Long Live the King
by Disciple of Ember
Summary: Deceived. Distraught. Disillusioned. Four souls have entered a world unlike any other. In order to survive they must rely on each other in a land that is out to take what little they have left. With danger closing in on all sides they only have one chance. Either find Maxwell, or die trying. Ready or not, here it comes.
1. Setting the stage

**There isn't enough Don't Starve fanfictions, so I feel I must do my part to fix that. A word of warning. This story will contain spoilers in the later chapters. If you have not finished adventure mode, then _go play it right now! All other things are secondary! Why are you wasting time re-*cough* _Ahem. What I meant to say is, that you might want to hold off on this story if you don't want to be spoiled. **

**As ever, comments and criticisms are appreciated.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

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><p><em>Observed from above, the world she lived in looked quite peaceful. It was a place of rolling hills and sunny meadows. Massive forests and impressive quarries. It all looked like something out of a map designed to draw on feelings of wonder and awe. There was just one problem.<em>

_This land was not on any map._

_Beneath the rugged beauty, past the images of well-being, lurked something far darker. She didn't remember how she had arrived there, nor did she remember how long it had been. All she knew were those last parting words of the strange man._

'_Say pal, you don't look so good.'_

_She had opened her eyes to find his blurry outline looming over her. In some ways he looked familiar, but she couldn't quite place it._

'_You better find something to eat before night comes.' _

_His words had sounded almost generous, but there was something else to them. Her dazed mind was unable to process what was going on. If she had been fully aware, she would have seen the grin that split his features as he spoke his final farewell._

'_Don't starve.'_

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><p>The sun peeked over the horizon, spreading the light of a new day onto the world once more. Every creature slowly noticed the return of the light, and reacted in their own favored ways. The rabbits tentatively ventured out of their tiny abodes to forage for plants to eat. The birds ruffled their impressive feathers before greeting the day with a chirping song.<p>

One figure however, stood out among the forest creatures.

Feeling the warmth of the sun on her skin, Wendy slowly opened her eyes the morning light. The allure of a fresh start to the day had long ago lost all its charm to her. The nightmares of the seemingly perfect world had seen to that.

Sighing deeply, she turned her head to check on her source of heat during the night. The campfire, if it could still be called that, had degraded into a smoldering pile of embers that barely clung to life. Dispassionately, she noted just how close she had come to a gruesome death. Nothing survived long in the dark without a source of light.

The morbid thoughts had been coming more and more frequently as of late. She was no stranger to the darker side of her mind, but even her own demons didn't usually rear their heads so often. Sometimes it just seemed pointless. More than once, she had found herself wondering how easy it would be to extinguish the flame that kept her safe in the night.

Such thoughts never amounted to anything however. She might be outside the realm of happiness, but suicide held no appeal to her. She would not be felled by her own hand.

Wendy slowly uncurled herself from the makeshift bedroll. Crafted from leaves and plant fibers, it served to keep her sheltered from the wind if nothing else. She didn't mind the cold all that much, but it helped to keep her from waking up stiff and achy.

The small girl stretched her arms to the sky, releasing the tension that had built up while she slept. A pop from her shoulders signaled the rush of relief that she was searching for.

She then began gathering her supplies. All she owned in this world was several basic items such as sticks, rocks, and some berries that helped stave off the worst of her hunger. These things were all carried in a small backpack that had been shaped from materials in much the same way that her bedroll had. While it was nothing impressive, she still felt a bit of pride in her own handiwork.

Now there was just one thing left to get before she could start the day.

Stepping past the campfire, Wendy made her way over to a nearby rock. The mostly-flat stone had served to hold dearest possession while she slept. It just wouldn't be right to leave something so important lying in the dirt.

"Hello Abigail." She greeted, speaking to the item that lay in front of her.

To the average observer, the tiny object might have appeared as nothing more than a simple flower. That would change when said person took a closer look. The floral bud exuded an aura of sheer wrongness that made even the fiercest local fauna keep far away from it.

Wendy was unbothered.

"What should we do today sister?" She asked, cradling the object as though it were an infant. Predictably enough the flower didn't respond.

"You can't hear me yet can you?" The blonde girl frowned slightly. "How much longer will it be until you can find me again Abigail?"

When she got no answer, she placed the flower into her shirt pocket with a resigned sigh. There was no point in trying to coax her sister out when she couldn't reach her.

Wendy looked over her campsite one last time to ensure that she hadn't left anything important behind. All her supplies were gathered, the fire had gone out, and-

Oh wait, there was still her ax.

Reaching down, she picked up the bladed tool. It had been the first thing she had found in this world. It's former owner… well… he didn't look like he would miss it. Or anything for that matter. He certainly didn't complain when she had pried it from his skeletal fingers.

The ax had served as a lifeline in her current state. While she lacked the upper body strength to cut down large trees, she was more than capable of felling the small saplings as well as cutting off low branches. Without it, she likely wouldn't have lasted a single night.

Now that everything was in order, she was faced with the same question that every morning brought with it. Where was she to go? No one direction ever seemed to hold the answers she was looking for. No matter how far she walked, she would only be rewarded with a cliff face or some form of impassible terrain.

Wendy was trapped and she knew it.

"North looks promising, don't you think?" In truth, that direction looked exactly the same as all the others. Still, it didn't hurt to have a touch of hopefulness every now and then. "North it is then."

Flower safely tucked away and ax in hand, the young girl set off. She knew that she had little chance of escaping by simply meandering around. She knew that she would likely perish forgotten and alone in this desolate place.

Even so, there was one thing she didn't know. Her pointless wanderings would come to an end very soon. She was about to be swept up in something far larger than she had ever anticipated.

And it would all be because of a certain scientist.

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><p>On the other side of the great forest, where the trees opened up to grasslands and green hills, a nameless abomination stalked its favored prey.<p>

The monstrosity was roughly the size of a man. Covering its body were gaudy feathers that stuck out in all manner of haphazard directions. The beast was a mockery of its avian cousins, far too large to even attempt flying. This did little to take away from its reputation.

The creature's greed was legendary. It swallowed down obscene amounts of berries, a precious commodity in this world, leaving none at all for starving travelers. Whispered rumors warned the unwary that the tyrannical thing was so selfish it would steal the very air from your lungs given half an opportunity. Those unfortunates would often describe this horror as the devil incarnate.

Others called it a fat turkey.

The gobbler made short work of the scattered berry bushes in the surrounding area. Countless red orbs vanished into its seemingly bottomless gullet. Once it had cleared a particular bush, it would dawdle around mindlessly until it eventually wandered near another. This process would repeat until there was simply nothing else to eat.

On this particular evening, the oversized bird only had one choice in its culinary options. The bushes had been carefully stripped of their bounty before it had arrived leaving only one available to the turkey.

Giving neither thought nor pause to the obvious trap, the gobbler strode right up to the berry bush and began scarfing them down at an alarming rate. It continued the feast until it was interrupted by movement from one of the nearby husks.

Faster than the eye could follow, a spear shot out of the barren bush headed directly for the bird's throat. It was only by sheer chance that the deadly projectile missed and embedded itself into the ground nearby.

The gobbler stood motionless while its tiny mind struggled to process what had just happened. Turning to the spear, it gave the wooden handle several experimental pecks before deciding that it was of no concern and returning to the berries.

From his hiding spot, Wilson bit back a scream of frustration. He had been struggling to deal with the monstrosity for days now. Traps didn't work. He had nothing to poison it with. And now his spear was lying harmlessly next to the thing it was supposed to be killing.

_Calm down._ He thought to himself. _It hasn't moved. You can still make this work._

Pulling a knife from his pocket, he made ready to try again. The bird was distracted by its meal so logically it would have little chance of noticing his presence.

It was a pity logic rarely worked in this world.

No sooner had Wilson lunged forward, intent on burying the blade hilt deep in the turkey's back, than the gobbler shot away from the spot with speed that should have been impossible given its size. The gentleman scientist tripped on his own momentum and fell face down in the dirt next to his spear.

For a time, he simply lay there stewing in humiliation. Wilson Percival Higgsbury. Outsmarted by a stupid bird. That's what they would carve into his tombstone.

Groaning, he struggled to his feet only to find that the turkey had vanished into the forest once more. There was no point in chasing after it. Even if he had been in peak physical condition, it would have been nearly impossible to keep up with the infuriating creature.

A sigh of resignation worked its way through his system as he turned to gather what was left of the berries. Only a handful were left, but compared to going hungry they were well worth the effort of picking.

An hour later found the young man in front of his fire pit, trying to distract himself from the emptiness in his stomach.

This was not the life he was suited for. Wilson was in his element when he was surrounded by the wonders of science and technology. He could craft things that others dismissed as impossible with his genius, but fighting for his life in the wilderness was something else entirely.

Right now, only one thing kept him from going mad. The need for revenge.

He turned his knife over in his palm, observing the way the flames of his fire reflected light off of its blade. It was the same knife he had used to slash his palm, granting him entrance to what he thought was his greatest desire. How did that saying go again?

_Be careful what you wish for. You might just get it._

He had made a metaphorical deal with the devil.

Maxwell…

He still didn't know what the man's angle was in all this, but he had no doubt that the sinister figure was behind it all. He had promised something that Wilson's insatiable spirit had been powerless to resist. Knowledge. The kind that would have rendered the greatest minds of his time dumbstruck in disbelief. And, like a blind rat in a maze, the scientist had loyally followed his every command, even going so far as to offer up his own blood to open the portal.

Now he was trapped. A victim in a game that held the highest stakes possible. He knew Maxwell was out there. Watching. Waiting. Mocking his feeble attempts to avoid an early end.

But he would prove the wicked man wrong. He would survive despite the odds. He would conquer this world with the power of his mind! And when he found his demonic host again…

He would punch his oh-so-perfect teeth down his throat.

Or better yet, he would invent a large machine to do the punching for him. Yes… a large _metal_ machine with lots of heavy limbs for added smugness-removing power. Maybe even throw in a couple of smokestacks on its back for added effect.

Wilson could see it now; he would ride his glorious doomsday machine right up to the darkened fortress that held his enemy. There would no doubt be resistance, but his steel steed would sweep it all aside like so much chaff. He would shatter the doors blocking his way, stride down the darkened halls, come right up to Maxwell, and…

Well, he hadn't figured out what would happen next. He was fairly sure it would involve a lot of hitting but he had yet to decide on a suitably devastating one-liner. He'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

The daydream ended when his stomach reminded him that it was still empty. Wilson grudgingly let go of his imagined triumph, turning his attention to cooking the handful of berries he had managed to gather. He didn't exactly trust them raw. Too many brightly colored plants had poisonous defenses for him to risk it.

While the snack simmered, he drew out his notepad and pencil. Other than the knife, these were the only things that had followed him into the portal.

.

_Wilson P. Higgsbury, entry Day 10_

_Food supplies are getting scarce. The carrots are gone, and only a few berry bushes remain accessible. Attempts at hunting have been fruitless. Very soon I'm going to have to leave this place. This isn't something I'm looking forward to. Strange noises have been coming from the forest. Going deeper inside to look for food could prove hazardous. At the same time, leaving to go through the grasslands could be just as dangerous. Up until now, my fire has been constructed from fallen branches I scavenged off the edge of the forest. In the open area I would be at the mercy of the night. _

_There is no right choice from what I can see. Both options have hazards, but I'll have to choose one of them eventually. Staying here will only serve to slowly starve me to death. I didn't conquer Maxwell's puzzles just to die here. I WILL find him again. I will monitor my progress further once I am under way. Until then._

_-Science shall prevail-_

_._

The last sentence was something he added onto every journal entry he made. It was a reminder that he was not some poor helpless soul. He had the mightiest of forces at his disposal, and the skill to use it. If nothing else, it served to calm his nerves when he wasn't feeling very lucid.

Nodding contentedly, Wilson stowed the notepad away. He would have plenty to write in it later. Now however, it was time to check on his dinner.

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><p>The pieces were moving.<p>

Deep in the heart of the shrouded world, a pair of eyes looked upon the image of his home. A massive chessboard lay stretched out in front of him with four pawns positioned at specific intervals. Maxwell couldn't help but smile at the way they stumbled around. Dancing to his tune.

Already, two of the pawns were headed right towards each other. One piece was decorated with a swirling flame, while the other held the image of a dumbbell. The pawn marked with a gravestone was headed in the general direction of all the others. Her progress was slow, but it was progress none the less.

The scientist however, was a problem.

He had stubbornly remained in his starting position on the board. This was unacceptable. He was the lynchpin to the entire operation. Without him, it would all fall to ruin.

"Say pal." Maxwell uttered sarcastically, speaking more to himself than anyone else. "I do hope you like dogs. Don't worry though; these boys are just going to give you a shove in the right direction. Nothing _science_ won't protect you from right?"

With a dry chuckle and a forceful thought, he directed his will into the minds of the hounds located somewhere in the plains. In mere seconds he had shown them the location of Wilson's basecamp. They needed no further goading.

Baying madly, the vicious creatures began their headlong dash towards the unwitting target. It would take a while for them to reach him, and their chorus would alert him miles in advance, but that was the idea. Maxwell didn't want Wilson dead. At least, not yet.

Leaning back, the lord of the darkened world closed his eyes. Now all he had to do was wait.

Everything was falling into place.


	2. A meeting of minds

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't starve or any of the characters. Try saying that three times fast. **

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><p>Wilson hadn't realized he'd dozed off until his eyes shot open. One look up at the sky told him that he'd been asleep for at least a couple of hours, something that was dangerous to do so close to night time. If he'd remained asleep without a fire to keep the darkness at bay...<p>

Wait a minute.

What had woken him up? His mind, only half awake, struggled to come up with a good explanation. There were no rocks poking into his sides. No breeze that he could see. The only thing it could have been-

Then he heard it. Far of in the distance was the sound of barking. Not some friendly bark between dogs, nor was it the kind that they use to scare off competition, this was a hunting call.

Wilson's eyes widened as he jumped to his feet. He had been out hunting once before with a wealthy client interested in some of his inventions. The hounds that the man had used had a very distinct tone when baying, and it was disturbingly similar to the one he was hearing now.

What's more, the noise from these hounds was deeper and louder than the domesticated ones. That implied that they would be far larger. Perhaps even large enough to hunt a human.

_Don't panic!_ He thought to himself. _You're not the only thing out here. T-They're probably just out looking for rabbits or something. _

He did his best to ignore the fact that hounds that large would need a lot more than rabbits to sustain themselves.

Regardless of their target, he knew it would be dangerous to remain out in the open like this. Wilson quickly packed up what little belongings he had, stowing his knife and notepad into the folds of his vest. His only other possessions were a bundle of twigs and some tufts of grass. Both of those could be replaced easily enough, and right now time was of the essence.

The barking was getting louder now. Whatever the hounds were after was near where he was right now. Wilson risked a glance in the direction their baying was coming from.

It was a decision he immediately regretted.

The hounds were coming from somewhere deep in the grasslands. Thanks to the flat, unobscured, view of the plains, he was able to get a distant glimpse of the beasts.

To call them monstrous would have been an incredible understatement. Even from such a massive distance, it was obvious that they were enormous creatures. One of the front-runners would have been able to stand shoulder to shoulder with a good sized horse.

The scientist felt his blood turn to ice. There was no way those things were naturally occurring. He suddenly got the distinct feeling that remaining here would be a very bad idea.

That only left him with one other option. The forest.

Struggling to remain calm, he took off as quickly as he could into the densely packed trees. Branches lashed out at him while roots attempted to tangle his legs, but the sound of the hounds' crazed symphony kept him running for dear life.

It didn't take long for Wilson's stamina to start failing. He was a man of science. And, like many in his field, had neglected training his body in favor of sharpening his mind. To make matters worse, the barking was getting louder by the second. By now a couple of them sounded like they were almost on top of him.

_Come on! Think!_ He mentally shouted at himself. _You can't keep running forever. How can you escape?_ The answer suddenly smacked him in the face. Both figuratively and literally.

He had been so focused on the sounds of pursuit behind him that he'd failed to look where he was going. As was inevitable in such enclosed areas, Wilson ran face first into a massive tree.

The pain served to scatter the panicked thoughts that had been taking hold, giving him the respite he needed to see his escape route.

_The trees!_

Most dogs that he knew of where not very skilled climbers. Logic dictated that dogs being two, or even three, times the size of an average household pet would be heavily encumbered by their weight. All he had to do was climb up out of their reach, and wait until some other form of prey distracted them!

Wasting no time worrying about the state of his bark-ravaged face, Wilson immediately began climbing as quickly as he could. Which, as it turns out, wasn't very fast at all. Climbing was hard when you had hardly eaten in the past few days.

A howl of triumph behind him signaled the arrival of the fastest members of the pack. The speeding hound raced forward and got a running jump in an attempt to pick him from the tree like a low hanging apple. Luckily, the rush of adrenaline that shot through his body gave the Wilson the strength he needed. With a massive heave, he launched up to a higher branch, escaping the jaws of the hound with only a couple of inches to spare.

He didn't stop there. Fearing that the demon dogs might have a better way of reaching him, he scrambled up higher and higher until the branches became too thin to support his weight. It was only when he could go no higher that he risked a look down at the hunters.

Half a dozen vicious beasts were glaring up at him. Some clawed at the tree in a clumsy attempt to climb up, while others stalked around in circles with rage burning in their eyes. They didn't like being cheated out of an easy dinner.

A huge sigh of relief shook Wilson's frame as he realized that he was safe for the moment. As the hounds glared up at him, he glared right back.

"You think this can stop me Maxwell?" He spoke, wondering if the man could actually hear him. "You're going to have to send something a lot smarter if you want to finish me off!"

As it turns out, insulting their intelligence was not the best of moves.

Whether by the will of their master, or the whim of lady luck (who didn't like being pushed), the beasts backed off slightly. Without warning, one of them shot forward; sinking its teeth into the trunk of the tree. The dog whipped its head from side to side and soon came away with a large chunk of wood stuck in its mouth.

Wilson stared in disbelief as the others followed its example, brutally ripping pieces out of the tree that was giving him sanctuary.

"Uh, guys? Y-You know I was just kidding about the not being smart right?" He ventured, his mind racing at the sudden peril he was in. "Listen, I know of a place with a great assortment of rabbits. LOTS of rabbits! What's say I point you in that direction and we forget this whole mishap ever happened?"

Predictably enough, they ignored him entirely. The dogs were cutting down his hiding place and he couldn't see any way out of it.

The massive tree suddenly gave a lurch.

"Oh no…"

The forest behemoth started to sway as sickening cracking sounds filled the air.

"No, no, no, nononononono!"

The hounds darted out of the way as the weight of the wooden monolith sealed its fate. It was all Wilson could do to hold on and pray for a miracle.

The young man let out a terrified scream as the earth rapidly approached. The impact with the ground was so violent that he was hurled away along with shattered branches and pieces of bark. Skidding across the ground, he eventually came to a painful halt.

Wilson groaned as he struggled to rise again. The moment he regained his bearings however, it became clear that he was in deep trouble. The hounds had formed a semi-circle around him, and now they seemed to grin maliciously at his predicament.

Taking an unsteady step backwards, the ground suddenly shuddered under his feet. He ventured a look over his shoulder to find that his flight had landed him right on the edge of a miniature cliff with a good sized lake down at the bottom. And, of course, the dirt on the edge was fairly unstable.

"Oh come oooOOOOAAAAAAAHHHH!" His protests were cut off as the dirt beneath his feet crumbled away, sending him falling into the empty air with the water getting closer at an alarming rate.

His free-fall came to an end as he impacted the pristine surface of the lake, sending up a massive spray of water and plunging him into darkness.

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><p>All in all, nature was incredibly boring. Wendy had been walking in the direction she assumed was north for the better part of a day, and had yet to find anything more interesting than some oddly colored mushrooms. Stomping it into mush had only provided a small amount of amusement.<p>

She swatted at branches and insects with her ax as she walked.

"It's so much less fun when you aren't around Abigail." She said. "There's nobody to play with."

All of the small forest creatures she had run across up to this point had been smart enough to realize that her version of 'playing' didn't usually end well for them.

Suddenly, a very high pitched scream echoed through the forest only to be silenced moments later by a loud splash.

Wendy froze. So far, she had yet to meet another living person in this world. She had assumed that she was the only one. Could there be another unfortunate soul trapped here as well? Not for long, if the tone of their cry was anything to go by.

Still, she could investigate. If nothing else it would provide a decent distraction from her boredom. Maybe even a few useful supplies.

Keeping a tight grip on her ax, she started headed towards the direction of the disturbance. It only took a few minutes of walking for her to find the location.

At the base of a small cliff was a large body of water. The tranquil waters looked so peaceful compared to the ragged body lying on the shore.

The man, who must have been the source of the screaming, was face-down in the dirt. He was entirely soaked, and didn't so much as stir as she approached. Wendy frowned; she had been looking forward to meeting someone who wasn't dead. Oh well. Might as well have a bit of fun.

Following in the tradition set down by the very first children to run across a dead thing, she promptly found the nearest stick and began poking him in the face.

Much to her surprise, the 'corpse' started groaning. The girl jumped backwards with a small shout as he started moving.

The not-so-dead-man struggled into a sitting position, doubling over to spit out water and clods of dirt. Swaying from dizziness, his eyes slowly fixated on her. For a moment, the two of them stared in mutual silence.

That didn't last long.

Perhaps it was her pale complexion, or her unnerving demeanor, or maybe even the ax she was carrying. Whatever the reason, the moment he got his senses back the man immediately recoiled in terror.

"Gah! Don't kill me!" He screamed, frantically crawling as far away as possible. Please, I didn't mean to land in your lake! It was an accident! Don't haunt me!"

Wendy cocked her head to the side curiously.

"Sir?" She asked. "Is something the matter with your head?"

Seeming to notice that he wasn't being hacked limb from limb by a vengeful ghost, he stopped trying to flee.

"M-My head?" He ventured. "Wait, you're not a phantom?"

"Not to my knowledge." She saw him blink in surprise at her odd speech. "My name is Wendy. I've been living here for some time now. Are you trapped as well?"

His mouth hung open in shock.

"You're an actual child? He trapped a _child_ here?" His tone held both disbelief and outrage. "_Maxwell took a child here?_ That miserable! Sadistic! Son of a-" He managed to catch himself before cursing in front of someone so young.

Wendy watched quietly as he put his head in his hands.

"I knew he was bad, but this…" The man was muttering to himself now. "That's going too far."

Eventually, he composed himself enough to face her again.

"Sorry about that." He said. "My name is Wilson. And yes, I've been stuck here for a while also. Listen, it isn't safe here. There were some hounds chasing me earlier, and I doubt that they'll be giving up this easily. There'll be time to talk later, but right now I think it's best if we get as far away from here as possible. What do you say?"

With that, he got to his feet and held out his hand. Wendy examined the offered appendage with disinterest.

"I believe I know somewhere safe." She said, turning back the way she had come. "Come on. If we are quick we can make it back there before dark."

Not bothering to see if he would follow, she set off back towards her original base-camp.

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><p>This was turning into a very disturbing day for Willow. To put it simply, she had never seen any one person eat so much without passing out. Or throwing up. Or both.<p>

Wolfgang shoveled down his fifth helping of carrot stew in record time. The man was a bottomless pit from which no food could hope to escape. When he emptied the wooden bowl of its contents, the massive man leaned back and let out an explosive belch.

"Is good!" He declared, much louder than was strictly necessary.

"Right…" Willow said, still working on her first bowl. The runny mush of a stew wasn't great, but it sure beat eating berries for every meal.

She had found Wolfgang earlier that day, after he had caused a miniature landslide of rocks and rubble. Apparently he had believed that rolling a boulder down a large hill would somehow clear a path through the forest for him. As it was, she had narrowly avoided being flattened by it.

Setting aside the remains of her meal, Willow began flicking her lighter on. It was a nervous habit she had picked up years ago.

"So, Wolfgang." She began. "I don't suppose you know a way out of the woods?"

If she was entirely honest with herself, the tree thickened area was a pain to live in. Strange sounds echoed from every corner, and she got the distinct feeling that she was being watched. Even worse, now that she knew other people like him were here as well, simply lighting everything on fire wasn't an option. Well it was, but she didn't feel like cleaning up the mess. Or informing families.

The large man didn't seem to notice her tension.

"Bah. Trees try to trap me, but I am too mighty for them." He stated. "I will find way out by breaking through silly wood. Wolfgang is stronger than forest!"

His words were about as useful as she had expected them to be.

"I suppose that could work." She said, doing her best not to roll her eyes at his 'strategy'. "But did you see any good direction from the top of that hill? Somewhere that didn't look like it would be filled with nasty things?"

He struck an almost comical thinking pose at her question. The way his mustache twitched during his, no doubt intense, consideration made it very difficult for her to keep a straight face.

"Hmmm. There was less trees in some places…"

She immediately perked up at the news.

"Which one?" She questioned.

He stood up and began slowly turning in circles. "Was left… no, right of… uh… little left from… there was large rock at some place…"

Her hopes plummeted back down to the ground as she saw he had no clue where the key to freedom was.

Closing her eyes, Willow gripped the lighter tightly in her fist. Right now she wanted nothing more than to let fire free her from this place. Burning the forest would be so easy. Not to mention it would be a spectacular sight. So many flames, reaching up into the heavens. A brilliant tapestry of red, orange, yellow, and white all swirling on the canvas of the night sky…

With inhuman willpower, she forced her thoughts away from those of an uncontrolled burn. Wolfgang wasn't fireproof. As annoyed as she was that he had almost turned her to paste with a runaway rock, she didn't want to be responsible for killing him. Not to mention anyone else who might be lost in these piney prisons.

Sudden movement in the distance snapped her out of her thoughts. Several miles away, a small cliff broke apart. She could see the tiny cascade of dirt falling down the length of it.

Seeing her expression, Wolfgang stopped his attempts at locating directions.

"Willow see something?"

She had. Pointing in the direction of the cliff, she told him what had happened.

"A piece of that cliff just broke off!" She said. "Do you know what that means?"

He stared blankly at her for a moment before turning fearful.

"Is monsters!?" He asked, suddenly trembling and looking in all directions. "Attacking cliffs!?"

"No, don't be stupid." She said. "Monsters don't exist. There's people over there! Maybe even people who know how to get out of here and back home!"

He didn't look entirely convinced.

"Let's get over there and find them!" She grabbed his arm and started pulling him along, a feat that was made rather impressive by the fact that he had almost double her body mass.

"B-But what if _IS_ monsters!?"

Willow grit her teeth in frustration.

"Then I'll light them on fire." She declared. "That will solve both our problems. Now get moving or I'm not letting you have any of my carrot stew tonight."

With a small whimper, Wolfgang fell in line behind her.

The borderline-pyromaniac could hardly contain her excitement. If she could find more people, then surely one of them would know how to get home.

Now all she had to do was reach them.


	3. A grand entrance

**I would like to take this opportunity to warn readers that there will be violence in this story. I'll try to keep it at or below a PG-13 level, but if it ever goes beyond that feel free to let me know so I can fix it. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

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><p>His time in this strange world had erased most of the unspoken rules that Wilson had held dear before he had been imprisoned. Still, it felt somewhat disturbing to be following a strange young girl through the forest. He still hadn't ruled out the possibility that she was some kind of vengeful spirit, though that seemed less and less likely.<p>

"So… Wendy?" He asked, just trying to fill the silence that had pervaded since she started leading him. "Who else is here with you?"

She observed him over her shoulder curiously.

"I've been in isolation since my arrival." She said. "The only company I've had up until now would be my sister Abigail."

"Oh? Is she waiting back at camp?" Wilson questioned, ducking to avoid a low hanging branch.

"No. She's dead."

The matter-of-fact statement took the scientist completely off guard. He stopped immediately, staring in disbelief at the child.

"She's… _dead_?" Suddenly he felt a much darker hatred towards Maxwell. "I'm so sorry. If I had known you were here… I had no idea there were other people and-"

She cut him off with a shake of her head.

"She didn't die here." Wendy explained. "That was a long time ago. In here, she can come to visit me every once in a while. She's kept me safe from the creatures of the night."

He didn't know exactly how to respond to that. They calm manner in which she discussed it assured him that she was telling the truth about it having happened long before being imprisoned in this place. Still, having her visit?

Wilson had to hold back a look of sympathy. It seemed the girl's loss hurt her more than she let on. If she had invented some pretend manner of contacting her departed sibling, she must have taken it very hard.

"That sounds nice." He said, deciding against questioning her coping mechanism. "You'll have to introduce me to her sometime."

The barest hint of a smile flittered across her features at that. Silence returned once more as they got under way again, but this time it didn't feel quite so oppressive. If anything, the scientist was feeling better than he'd been since he was tricked by Maxwell. Something so simple as human contact truly could work wonders.

The peace didn't last.

Wendy stopped without warning, her grip tightening around the ax. She turned to stare off over her left shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Wilson asked, following her gaze but finding nothing more than trees.

"The hounds are baying…"

The ominous warning was confirmed by a far off barking noise. The scientist blanched at the sound. He had almost forgotten about the twisted animals that had been chasing him.

"We need to move! _Now!_" He shouted, taking her arm and dashing forward. He doubted they would stand a chance against a whole pack of those things, especially considering he had lost his spear somewhere along the way. Probably when he went off the edge of that cliff. Feeling in his pocket, he confirmed that his knife was still with him at the very least.

Wendy was having a difficult time keeping up with him. Her legs were shorter, and even though he was heavily underfed she couldn't maintain the same pace he had.

"Stop!" She panted. "Mister Wilson! Stop for a moment!" He had little other choice as she dug her heels into the ground and refused to go further. While she struggled to catch her breath, Wilson's mind was racing.

What did they have at their disposal? A knife and a rusty looking ax. Not exactly prime combat equipment. And since she couldn't keep up…

He would probably regret this sooner or later. Stepping forward, he grabbed her under her arms and hoisted the girl over his shoulder, ignoring the outraged sounds of protest.

"This is for your own good!" He declared, taking off once more. From her position she shouted something unintelligible, but undoubtedly offensive while battering on him with her free hand. At least she wasn't using the ax on him.

Carrying her on his shoulder was a lot more difficult than he had first expected. Even if she hadn't been resisting him for reasons known only to herself, she was still heavy enough to slow him down.

What's worse, the barking was getting closer. It sounded like one of the hounds had pulled ahead of the pack and was closing in on them with frightening speed.

Bursting past a knot of tangled branches, Wilson nearly stumbled and fell as he ended up in the middle of a clearing. The sudden absence of trees clawing at him caused a moment of hesitation. The girl on his shoulder took this opportunity to jam her foot rather painfully into his gut.

With a choked cry, he doubled over dropping her to the ground and gasping for air. It could have been worse had she kicked a little lower, but it hurt none the less.

"_Don't. Do. That. Again._" She hissed at him, glaring as though he had smacked her mother with a frying pan.

"I'm trying to help!" He shot back. "In case you haven't noticed, we're being-"

His sentence was interrupted as one of the leading hounds erupted through the tree barrier and bounded into the clearing. The beast growled menacingly, slowing its pace as it approached. It knew they couldn't escape now.

Wilson felt panic threaten to claim him. Each muscle locked up with a brutally cold sensation gripping his heart. But he wouldn't give up that easily, especially not when his new companion's life was in danger. Even if she was somewhat uncooperative.

The hound's eyes met his own. For a brief second, the two regarded each other in terrifying silence. The scientist's hands slowly moved towards his knife, an action that wasn't lost on the creature. Its baleful glare deepened as he fumbled with the hilt.

In an instant, the tension snapped.

The hound launched off the spot, headed directly for his all-too-vulnerable body. Wilson tried to bring up his own weapon but it was obvious that he was too slow. Thankfully for him, Wendy was faster. She wasn't physically built for swinging her weapon with great force, but the sharp edge more than made up for this shortcoming.

She whipped the ax towards the beast as it sailed past. Wilson's ears were assaulted by the sickening sound of ripping meat as the blade sunk into its belly, the creature's own momentum splitting it wide open.

The dog crashed to the ground, letting out several strangled whines. Blood pooling around the body, it shuddered one last time before going still.

The scientist could only stare in shock.

"You… you just…"

"Slew the beast." She finished, wiping her ax off on the grass. "Would you have preferred I try to reason with it?"

"Uh…" Was there any right way to answer that? Wilson was getting the distinct feeling that following her might have been a mistake. Never before had he seen a child so at ease with killing something in such a manner.

His self-doubt gave way to fear as the rest of the hunting pack emerged. The giant dogs skidded to a halt as they spotted the body of their fallen companion. Five pairs of hate filled eyes locked onto them.

"I don't suppose you can do that five more times?" He ventured. Wendy shook her head, frowning as she realized there were more hounds than she had assumed there were.

Hesitation soon gave way to anger as their pursuers began snarling and snapping at the two. The pack slowly advanced, forcing Wilson and Wendy to back away. This was it. He was going to die without ever getting home. Some guilty part of him wanted to blame the girl at his side, but he knew that wasn't true. With or without her, the beasts would have hunted him down eventually.

"Wendy." He said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I have a plan."

She shot him a sideways glance. It was clear now that she was getting worried from the way she met his gaze hopefully.

"I'll get their attention. When I do that, run for the trees. It's me they're after, so you might be able to escape." He could hardly believe the words coming out of his own mouth, but he said them all the same. Wilson wasn't a man who believed in heroic sacrifices. He was practical, and all logical senses told him that this was a terrible decision.

Still, it felt like the right thing to do. She had shown that she was capable of defending herself, so maybe she would be able to survive in this desolate place. On top of that she was a child. His life might not have been the longest, but from a scientific standpoint he'd had a significantly longer time in this world than she had.

He didn't look at her when he said it. He was worried what expression she might be wearing. Be it worried concern or cold acceptance, it wouldn't take much to break his nerve right now.

Taking a deep breath, Wilson stepped forward. The hounds perked up at the sight of his boldness. Their lips pulled back, revealing far too many wicked fangs.

"Not a bad set of teeth you have there." He commented. "But I've got a bite of my own." Brandishing his knife, he stared directly into their eyes. He remembered reading somewhere that eye contact was a challenge for dogs, and judging by their snarling it was working.

Time seemed to slow down as the hounds shot forwards. He could feel each heartbeat as they quickly closed the distance. It was an odd sensation. Clenching his jaw, Wilson prepared to make his final stand.

Fate however, had other ideas.

"_WOOOOLLLLLLFFFFGGGAAAAANNNNNGGGG!"_

The bellowing battle cry signaled the arrival of a hulking wall of muscle. The man-shaped projectile intercepted one of the hounds, swinging a hammer golf style and smashing the bottom of its jaw with a sickening crack. The unfortunate beast was lifted off its feet, cartwheeling in the air before bashing into the ground. It didn't rise again.

The other animals stopped dead in their tracks, just as shocked by the sudden intervention as Wilson himself. The hulking figure raised his weapon (which was really nothing more than a large rock tied to a stick) and pointed it menacingly at the pack.

"Angry puppy men want to fight?" He taunted. "I will show you how real man fight!"

Before he could even think of how to react, the scientist felt a hand grip his shoulder. As if this day couldn't get any stranger, there was a young woman standing next to him.

"You might want to stand back." She warned. "Give him some space."

"He's going to be torn to pieces!" He argued, his thoughts still stuck in his about-to-die mindset. She scoffed at his concern.

"Believe me, _he's _not the one in danger here." She assured. "The hounds don't scare him, so they're as good as done for." Something in her logic felt flawed to the young man.

One of the larger beasts let out a howl, signaling the pack to charge. The four remaining hounds closed in on the man with violent intent plain on their features. Wilson was sure he was about to witness a bloodbath ending in his bulky savior's demise.

He was partially correct.

As soon as the hounds drew closer, the large man let loose another battle-cry and swung his hammer in a wide arc. The attackers were forced to leap back to avoid being pummeled. One wasn't quick enough.

The first dog in the line took the blow directly to its jaw, pulverizing its terrifying teeth and sending it sprawling. It could only whimper pitifully while dragging itself away from the giant's reach.

The other three took advantage of his wide attack, darting back in as his momentum left him vulnerable. They made the distinct mistake of underestimating his speed.

The hammer lashed out first left, then right, slamming against two of the animals and felling them in the blink of an eye. The last hound was too committed to back out, and instead leapt for his throat in a desperate gamble.

The strongman used his free arm to block the attack. Wilson flinched inwardly as the hound's teeth sunk deep into the man's arm.

He simply stood there looking at the beast that hung from his outstretched limb. If he was in pain he did a good job of hiding it. For a moment, he maintained that position. It didn't last long. And when his mood shifted everyone else took an unconscious step back.

The man's expression darkened, something even the crazed animal took notice of.

"Bad doggy." It was almost absurd how terrifying such a silly phrase could sound.

The hound sensed an imminent danger, and tried to escape. Unlatching its jaws from his arm, it fell to the ground and made a break for the edge of the clearing. It had taken all of three steps before a meaty hand grabbed a hold of its tail in an iron grip.

The man yanked the dog off its feet, and, impossibly, began dragging it in circles. His momentum quickly sped up with each rotation. Before long, the hound was spinning in his grasp with its feet in the air.

"You! Don't! Bite! Wolfgang!" He shouted, each word punctuated by a further burst of speed.

Everything about this situation seemed so entirely wrong, and yet Wilson couldn't tear his eyes away from it. The beast and the man had become an almost indistinct blur as they spun faster than he would have thought possible given their relative masses.

With a mighty roar, the man hurled the creature with every ounce of his incredible strength. The hound flew like it had been shot out of a cannon, clearing the top of a large tree and disappearing with a series of terrified yelps.

The sound of breaking branches and a massive crash a mighty crash assured the group that gravity was indeed still working as intended.

Silence fell in the clearing as the scientist, the bereaved child, the fire starter, and the strongman all let the impact of what had occurred sink in. Wilson was the first to break the veil.

"How- who- what- I don't-" He had an incredibly difficult time of formulating his words into any recognizable questions. "Who are you!? _What in the name of science is going on!?_"

The young woman laughed a bit at his outburst.

"That's gratitude for you." She remarked. "I told you he was fine didn't I? Anyway I'm Willow, and he, as you might have guessed, is Wolfgan-"

"I am Wolfgang! Mightiest of men!" His interjection was followed by an impressive pose that pushed his chest out as far as it could go. Willow only spared him a mildly annoyed glance.

"Right. Anyway, we saw the cliff off in the distance start breaking up and thought there might be someone else living around here." She said, ignoring Wolfgang's deflated disappointment at the lack of attention. "Looks like I was right. So, who might you two be?"

The scientist was unsure of what to make of them. On one hand, they had just saved his life as well as Wendy's. On the other, he'd made a point of avoiding people who defied the laws of physics up until now. Then again, Maxwell didn't seem too respectful of logic either…

"My name is Wilson." He said at last, deciding that trusting them couldn't put him in any worse position than before.

"And this is…" He gestured to the girl at his side, but continued when she made no move to introduce herself. "…Wendy. She found me earlier today."

"Nice to meet you." Willow said, an eager relief in her features. He could understand that. After being alone for so long, meeting not one, but _three_, people in the same day had left him a bit lightheaded.

"So then." She began. "Do either of you happen to know the way out of this forest? I've been stuck in here for way too long, and I could really do with some nice open plains."

"Actually, I just came from the plains." Wilson said, much to the delight of the young woman. "I was staying out there before the hounds showed up. Though I'm not sure how to get back."

"You're not?" She questioned, her expression becoming crushed in an instant. "How can you not know if you were just there?"

"I was running for my life!" He defended. "I didn't exactly get much of a chance to look where I was going after I got thrown off a cliff."

"I know the way."

All eyes turned towards Wendy. It was the first thing she'd said since the two newcomers had arrived.

"You do?" Willow asked once more, hope edging into her voice. The pale girl nodded.

"Abigail flew up high the first day I was here and told me." She explained. "She gave me an idea of the landscape."

"Who is Abigail? Is another girl?" Wolfgang asked, scratching his chin.

"She's my sister."

"Wait, there's another person out here? Where is she now?" Willow asked.

"She's not here right now." The girl explained for the second time that day. "She died a long time ago." That threw them off.

The young woman was about to ask the obvious question in this situation, but a look from Wilson warned her against it.

"All right…" She said, not sure whether she should be pursuing the matter or not. "Well, dead sibling or not, if you know the way out of this place then lead on. The sooner we're free from all these trees the better."

"Not tonight." Wendy said, pointing at the sky. "It's getting too dark to be traveling. Sinister forces are at work, and without Abigail here it would be too dangerous."

Wolfgang frowned. "Little girl has fancy words."

"Yea, she does." Wilson agreed. "But she is right. It'd be hazardous to go out in the night. I've heard a lot of strange sounds and I'd rather not see what was making them. I suggest we make a campfire here and wait until the morning."

Willow, who had been looking increasingly distressed, immediately brightened up at the mention of a campfire.

"That sounds like a plan." She said, pulling out a lighter. "I got dibs on the lighting. What say you gentlemen help me get some kindling?"

Wolfgang immediately jumped up.

"I get much firewood!" He declared. "Make mighty fire! Mighty like me!" Without waiting for anyone's permission, he began smacking away at trees with his hammer. It wasn't a very efficient way of getting wood, but Wilson wasn't about to get in his way after the earlier show of force.

The scientist sat down and leaned against a nearby rock. To think in the past twenty four hours, he'd gone from being alone, to chased by hounds, to nearly drowning, to being chased again, all to end up finding three other people in this crazy world.

Closing his eyes, he took the first relaxing breath he'd had in a long time.

This was going to get interesting.


	4. And so it begins

**Final part of the introduction. Next week, the survival starts in earnest. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters. **

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><p>Wendy was the first one to wake up the following morning. It was odd to open her eyes and see other people nearby. She'd grown so accustomed to the solitude that being around others besides Abigail felt off somehow. She was tempted to go around forcing them into wakefulness so that they could get underway, but instead chose to observe them in silence.<p>

Wolfgang had just about passed out on the edge of their camp. His head rested on his folded arms, and he would periodically let out a massive snore. Small trickles of drool leaked out the side of his mouth as he snuffled in his dreaming state. A graceful sleeper he was not.

Willow had elected to fall asleep as close to the fire as was humanly possible without actually standing inside it. Her rucksack, fashioned from excess cloth and containing useful things like cooking materials, served as a pillow for the young woman. She at least had the self-control to keep her mouth shut while she slept.

Out of all of them, Wilson seemed to be the most interesting. While she was more than a little annoyed that he had invaded her personal space the other day, she couldn't help but be fascinated with the way he had taken charge so quickly.

When it became clear that they weren't going anywhere during the night he had divided up the necessary chores between them with ease, even carefully measuring out their food supplies (that were generously provided by Willow and Wolfgang) so that everyone got their fair share when they sat down to eat.

Right now, the scientist was huddled in a sitting position against a tree. His head was down on his knees with both arms wrapped around them, giving him the look of someone in mourning. The only indication he gave of being asleep was his slow and steady breaths. There was something strange about him that Wendy couldn't quite put her finger on.

Shaking her head to dispel the scrutiny of her companions, she turned her attention to the flower that rested lightly in the palm of her hands. She could feel a tingling sensation when she held it. The girl couldn't help but smile. Abigail was getting closer, and soon the two sisters would be reunited again. It was only a matter of time now.

She sat silently for the better part of an hour. It wasn't the most interesting experience, but it gave her time to think about the path they would be taking. Wendy's understanding of the terrain ended at the edge of the forest. Once they were out in the plains, it would be a whole new experience. That thought was equal parts exciting and deterring to her.

Soon, an assortment of grumbles and half-conscious mumbling signaled that the others were waking up. Mentally fortifying herself for the day ahead, the bereaved child got ready to make her parting preparations.

"I hope you get here soon Abigail." She muttered, gently placing the flower in her pocket while putting on her backpack. "I'm sure the others would love to meet you."

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><p>"<em>FREEDOM!"<em>

The ecstatic cry shook the edge of the forest, sending birds into a panic induced flight and terrorizing the local bunny population.

Willow let out a joy filled laugh of relief as she dashed out of the tree line and collapsed on her back. She knew that the others would probably think she was crazy, but right now that didn't matter.

"I never thought I'd love the color blue so much." She said, gazing up at the uninhibited view of the sky. It was a lovely thing to not have her view blocked by trees for once. She vowed to never doubt the little blonde girl's directions again.

"Was it really that bad in the woods?" Wilson asked, giving her an amused glance. She had to actively prevent herself from flinching at that.

It wasn't the forest that was the problem. It was the _trees_. So much flammable wood just sitting around doing nothing… It was enough to drive a girl insane. But how could she possibly explain her infatuation with flames to them?

The short answer was; she couldn't.

More than one doctor had diagnosed her love affair with fire as a 'condition'. Something that had to be controlled lest she harm someone. Sometimes she had to agree. If she'd burned the forest to the ground, then all three of her new friends likely would have died without ever meeting her. At the same time, she couldn't help but be drawn to the pyrotechnics. Always wanting to see a fire so large that it blotted out all other sights…

"I guess I just got a bit sick of them after a couple weeks." She offered lamely. It wasn't a very strong excuse, but thankfully he didn't seem bothered enough to continue the subject.

"I like this place already." Willow said, getting back up and dusting herself off. "What say we stick around for a little while just to savor it?"

"We can't." Wilson stated. "This is near where I was camped out originally. There's hardly any food left here. I was just about digging up the dregs of it when the hounds chased me into the forest."

"Where we go then?" Wolfgang asked, stepping forward to look out over the grassy fields. "I see no food place. Do you know one?"

The scientist took a moment to think.

"Well… If I recall correctly, the hounds that attacked me came from somewhere towards the east with their backs to the rising sun." He turned in the mentioned direction, holding up his hands in a mental picture frame as he remembered the incident. "Since I don't really want to find out where they call home, I suggest we head north-west instead."

The small group observed the offered path in silence for several moments. There were no obvious landmarks or points of interest, but nobody else had any other real suggestions. Besides, if they went back into the forest, Willow was sure she'd burn the whole island down by sunset.

"Sounds good to me." She said. "Any objections?"

Wolfgang shook his head, hoisting up her pack on his back. He had generously offered to carry it while they traveled, though she had the sneaking suspicion that he might be looking to sneak a few snacks when nobody was looking. That man could eat like an elephant.

Wendy simply shrugged her shoulders. Apparently her sense of direction ended when they left the confines of the trees.

"North-west it is." Willow said, "Lead on Mister Wilson."

"Uh… right." He said, scratching the back of his neck. "Just call me Wilson. Mister makes me feel old."

"Right then. Wilson, if you would be so kind…" She gestured for him to take the lead. He had done all right so far, and she was happy to let him keep it up so long as he didn't lead them off a cliff or something equally as inconvenient.

Falling in line behind the scientist, they all began the long journey towards what would hopefully be a warm and welcoming existence.

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><p>Sometimes, Wilson thought that the world was just out to get him. No more than five minutes after they had started walking, the sky decided that now would be an excellent time to rid itself of excess water weight.<p>

The downpour had the irritating effect of forcing them to take cover beneath a rocky outcrop on the side of a hill. It wasn't very large, but it was the only space around that would give them any shelter from the falling rain.

"And to think the day had started out so promising." Wilson muttered to himself. His hair was drenched and ragged, but what was worse was the state of his notes. The miniature dialogues he had written to keep track of his trials were all but ruined. Between the fall into the lake, and the unrelenting precipitation, the writings had become almost unreadable. It was somewhat humbling.

"Come on…" Willow had taken it upon herself to find some relatively dry kindling and attempt to light a fire in their tiny refuge.

"_Come on!_" She hissed in frustration, scowling as her lighter failed once more to ignite the soggy bundle of sticks and moss.

Both she and Wolfgang were very unhappy with the rain. Still, while the large man seemed to be very uncomfortable in the cold and wet, she looked almost frantic. It was as though the touch of water had put her into a miniature panic mode.

Wendy sat apart from the group, or at least as far apart as the confines of their space would allow. That was one thing Wilson had noticed about her. She never got closer than arm's length with anyone in the group. The quirk was likely the same thing that caused her outburst when he had picked her up.

She was the least visibly bothered by the weather, and was content to stare off into space while they struggled to get warm. The scientist however, had other plans. She had remained mostly silent during their whole trip thus far and he knew that such things weren't healthy for a child.

"Wendy?" He ventured, speaking low so as not to distract Willow from her task of lighting the fire. Apparently he spoke too low as the girl didn't react at all.

"Wendy?" He questioned again, slightly more forcefully. This time it caught her attention.

"What is it?" She asked, a slight flicker of annoyance blinking through her features. That was another thing he noticed. She rarely displayed outward emotion for more than a second.

"I just wanted to check to be sure you were all right." He said. "You've been looking a bit out of sorts for a little while now."

"I'm fine." She assured, trying to end the conversation before it began. Something was bothering her, he could tell that much.

"I'm glad to hear that." He said, attempting a verbal peace offering. "Listen, I know this is a bit soon, but would you mind telling me how you ended up here?"

It wasn't exactly the most cheerful of topics, but Wilson was at a loss when thinking about what else he could ask. It wasn't as if he could bring up things like her favorite color or pastime. She seemed far too mature to be baited in like that.

"He brought me here."

Wilson was quiet for a moment. He had no doubt who she was referring to. There was only one man with the power and the will to draw people into this world.

"I'm sorry to hear that." He said. She was unmoved by the sympathy. "If you don't mind me asking, how exactly have you been holding out for so long on your own?"

She remained silent. For a long time, the only noise that could be heard was that of Willow attempting to light the fire which still stubbornly refused to cooperate. Just as he began to think that Wendy had decided to refuse him any further answers, she drew a small flower out from her pocket.

"Abigail has been protecting me." She said softly. The flower rested in her palm, held as gently as though it were a new born child. Despite this, Wilson was struck by the floral creation's presence. Just being near it sent a chilling shiver through him as though there was a spectral finger running up and down his spine.

"Is that… hers…?" He ventured, unable to pull his gaze away from it. The girl nodded, curling her fingers around the flower protectively.

"She got hurt a while ago. I've been waiting for her since then, but she has yet to find me again." Her words were spoken in a neutral tone, but there was a small touch of loneliness to them. "That was about five days ago."

Despite how strongly he knew it wasn't possible, Wilson couldn't help but believe her. Being so close to the flower felt so disturbingly moving that he could almost imagine that it was somehow connected to a girl from beyond the grave.

"How long will it take for her to come back?" He ventured, trying to understand whether this was actually a case of her sister rising from the dead, or simply the imagination of a grief-stricken child.

She just shrugged.

"Well… I'm sure she won't be too long. From what you've told me, she sounds very nice." He hadn't intended to say that, but the words worked their way out of his mouth regardless. He wanted Wendy to feel at ease, even if he didn't exactly know why she was so distant to begin with.

She cast a hesitant gaze his way, unsure of whether he was being serious or not. Eventually, she seemed to satisfy her doubts.

"Thank you." She said. The words were simple, but there was a hint of genuine gratitude mixed in.

Their conversation was rather abruptly interrupted when Willow cut her finger on one of the sharper sticks, letting out a string of very unladylike curses. Very few of which Wilson had actually heard used before.

A very awkward silence followed.

"Um. Maybe I should go help her with the fire…"

Wendy nodded at his offer, seemingly unbothered by the foul language.

Making his way over to the young woman's side, the scientist reflected on what had just happened. While he might not have succeeded in bringing the girl closer into their group, he had gotten her to open up somewhat. For now, that would need to be enough.

Now all he had to do was figure out how to light damp kindling…

* * *

><p>Several hours later, the rain eventually decided to show mercy to its four victims. Wolfgang poked his head cautiously outside their shelter.<p>

"Rainy clouds are gone!" He announced heartily, his mood improving drastically at the good news.

"Ugh _finally._" Willow grumbled. It had quickly become clear that the pile of twigs they had gathered was too moist to burn, and that had taken its toll on her.

The group crawled out from beneath the outcropping, stretching their bodies which had become stiff from the confined space.

Wilson pushed on his back, allowing himself a breath of relief as the tension worked its way out of his system. There was still daylight left, and that meant that they would be able to hopefully salvage something from the miserable start of their journey.

"Everyone have everything they need?" He checked, getting an assortment of nods and 'yes's' "We don't want to leave anything behind."

"It's not like we have all that much to carry in the first place." Willow pointed out.

"I know. I know. I just want to be sure." Turning to face the direction they had chosen to travel in, he was suddenly struck by the atmosphere.

Something had changed. He couldn't put a direct label to it, but the air had gone still in what he could only think to describe as silent anticipation. It was as though he was standing in front of a massive audience about to unveil his greatest invention. From the reactions of his companions, he wasn't the only one who felt it either.

The world held its collective breath, watching them with an almost feverish gaze. Each one of them could feel that they were standing on the precipice of something incredible, but none knew exactly what that entailed.

Wilson felt a wall of doubt take shape in his heart. What was he doing? He wasn't a survivalist. He wasn't a leader. He was a scientist who had foolishly allowed himself to be tricked by his own desire for knowledge. No matter how much he claimed to despise Maxwell, he knew that it was his own fault in the end.

He couldn't do this. Every sense was warning him that this was the point of no return. He might not be aware of the stakes, but he knew that if he continued on the path they were following he would be putting all their lives at risk.

And yet…

If he turned back, what good would that do? Would they cling to life, living day by day in this freakish world of nightmares? Would they forever be stuck here with no chance of ever going home? Yes they would. To turn back now would be to admit defeat before the fight had even started. No matter how much he feared the unknown that lay ahead of him, Wilson knew he couldn't give up.

Not now.

Not ever.

Turning back to look at his followers, he made eye contact with each of them. Willow. Wolfgang. Wendy. They had all been thrown here by a force alien to their understanding. Now, they would show that they were not about to surrender to it.

One by one, the held his gaze. He took heart from their resolve, and they did the same with his. Despite their separate pasts, they held a common future.

"Let's go." He stated. There was nothing else that needed to be said. Nothing else that could be said.

As one, they all set off along the open grasslands. Though none of them could know it, they were embarking on a journey that would take them to the ends of their new world. A path that would push them to their limits. Joy and heartbreak. Anguish and comfort. They would experience trials they couldn't even begin to comprehend.

The promise of hardships and conflict clung to their bodies, but they strode forward regardless. The four of them had just taken the first steps on a mission that they couldn't afford to fail.

They were going to find Maxwell.


	5. Raising the dead

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

* * *

><p>"Look… I'm all for lighting stuff on fire, but are you sure this is a good idea?"<p>

Wilson had to suppress a sigh. He'd already gone over the plan several times, but no matter how well he explained it Willow held on to an edge of hesitation. Not that he could really blame her all things considered.

"It'll be perfectly safe." He assured for the umpteenth time. "We just need to get the smoldering bundle close to the hive, and the smoke will do the rest. The bees inside will become placid, and we'll be able to get at the honey without getting attacked."

The plan was something he'd seen done multiple times in the past. Of course, back then it had been done on ordinary honey bees. The kind that were small and fat. These ones however, were significantly larger just like the hounds had been. The smallest was about the size of his hand. Still, if they had roughly the same biological structure as regular bees (which he desperately hoped they did) then smoking them out of their hive _should_ work.

In theory.

Willow seemed to sense his lack of surety, and gave him a questioning frown. Her love of starting fire was fighting against her love of not being stung to death by ferocious insects.

"And if it _doesn't_ work?" She questioned.

"In the unlikely event that something goes wrong, you should be able to outrun them." Wilson replied, gesturing towards several of the bees. Sure enough, the massive creatures were buzzing around at a leisurely pace that could have been out-sped by a mildly distressed toddler. On top of that, their considerable weight meant that they had to pause every now and then to rest up.

"Besides." He added. "Wouldn't a bit of honey make for an excellent change of flavor? I happen to remember a few old recipes involving honey, a couple cuts of meat, and some added vegetables."

"Fine." She conceded at last, striking her lighter to ignite the torch that would act as their smoker. "But if anything goes wrong, you are _SO_ dead."

"Trust me. Nothing will go wrong."

* * *

><p>As it turns out, the hive had been more flammable than they had originally anticipated. Nor did the smoke from a burning pile of honeycombs seem to pacify the bees. If anything, it seemed to whip them into a frenzy.<p>

"Well…" Wilson started awkwardly, "On the bright side, I managed to get some of the honey while you kept them distracted…"

The only answer he received from the limping young woman was a glare promising death and destruction on an unimaginable scale if he kept talking.

Deciding discretion was the better part of valor, he shut up.

It had been three weeks since they had set forth out of the forest. In that time the four survivors had successfully established a sort of base camp in the grasslands. And, thanks in no small part to Wilson's ingenuity; they were starting to do fairly well for themselves.

Wolfgang proved to be second to none when it came to gathering tough resources like logs and rocks. His boundless strength and energy made him the ideal choice. At first it had been somewhat challenging seeing as the only tools they had were his hammer and Wendy's ax, but Wilson soon remedied that. It was amazing what you could make with sticks, sharp rocks, and a bit of tightly woven grass. The makeshift tools weren't durable but they were functional.

Wendy had wanted to be part of the hunting group, but the gentleman scientist was having none of that. Killing animals was a gruesome task, and despite her previous lack of concern for the deaths of the hounds, it still felt terribly wrong to expose such a young girl to an activity like that if it could be avoided. Maybe he was being a bit dramatic, but still.

Instead, she had taken up weaving. What had started out as a mildly amusing way to pass the time quickly became an incredible benefit. Turning grass into rope, crafting useful items like packs for the two in the group who lacked them, and creating traps that they used to snare bunnies and small birds was a wonderful aid. On top of that, while it was repetitive work it gave her something to focus her restless energy on. More and more, she'd become devoted to watching the flower of hers at all times of day. This allowed her to distract herself at least for a time.

Early on, Willow had been the only gatherer since Wilson was in charge of directing the group and ensuring everything was working smoothly. That changed once they got into the hang of things. With more free time, he had elected to accompany her both to provide aid and to get a better idea of the world they were living in.

Her infatuation with burning things quickly became apparent. At first it had been somewhat terrifying, fire being one of the most dangerous things to them in such a grass-laden area, but he soon realized how helpful her quirk was. When night snuck up on them and there was no time to build a flame by rubbing two sticks together, she and her lighter were there to save the day. Wilson had no idea how much fuel was left in the object, but as long as it kept them safe he was happy to encourage her slight pyromania.

During times like this however, he was painfully aware of how flammable the human body could be.

The thick silence stretched on as they walked.

Maybe he should try saying something to soothe the tension. Sure she'd looked about ready to kill him the last time he spoke up, but if he approached the conversation from a different angle, things might go better.

He _really_ didn't want her to stay mad at him. Mostly because he had a tendency of falling asleep before she did, and dearly wanted to be able to wake up again.

Bracing himself for possible backlash, he opened his mouth to try again. He didn't get far. No sooner had the first syllable of his sentence been formed than a piercing, and disturbingly high pitched, scream echoed throughout the landscape.

Both of them stopped dead in their tracks. The fire starter and the scientist locked eyes for a brief moment before taking off sprinting towards their base camp. Their previous gripes were forgotten in the face of the terrified noise.

Wilson's breath rushed in and out of his lungs as he pushed himself to move faster. Even after having been here for well over a month, physical exertion of this kind still took its toll on his body.

He pushed on regardless, one thought burning through his mind. The scream could only have come from Wendy. In all the time that the group had been together, he'd never seen her frightened once. If she was scared enough to be yelling then something terrible must have happened.

The pack thudded uncomfortably against his back as he ran. Pulling his knife out, he made ready to face whatever unnatural horror had been sent to torment them now. Willow did much the same with her lighter. While it may be an unconventional weapon, he'd seen it used to terrifying effect against a nest of monstrously large spiders.

Their campsite soon came into view. From this distance it was hard to tell, but he couldn't see anything wrong with it immediately.

"Wendy! Wolfgang!" Wilson shouted, putting on an extra burst of speed now that they were so close. "What's happening!? We heard… we… what…"

His words trailed off into nothingness as he caught sight of the highly unsettling image that was waiting for them.

Wendy wasn't frightened. In fact, she was smiling. The upturn of her mouth seemed so out of place on the normally morbid child that he had to do a double take.

That was when he saw the flower.

The ruby red plant that had proven so downright creepy to be around had apparently decided to step things up a notch. Literally. As Wilson stared in open-mouthed shock, Abigail's flower hovered in place around half a foot off the ground.

"Hello there." Wendy greeted, the almost unnatural smile never leaving her face. "Have you heard the good news? Abigail is almost here! We just need to help her find the way back!"

He couldn't speak. What was there to say? Up to this point, he'd seen a fair amount of things that contradicted beliefs he'd held sacred, but each of them had at least some basis in fact. Large animals were still animals. A floating flower however…

"How are you doing that?" Willow questioned, significantly less traumatized by the impossibility of it than he was. "That's incredible! Can you make other things hover also?"

"I'm not doing anything." The girl explained. "That's Abigail telling me that she's ready to come out and play."

The young woman was about to say something else, but Wilson cut her off.

"Hold on a minute!" He demanded, trying to salvage some level of believability from the situation. "Was this what all the screaming was about?"

Wendy frowned for a moment before realizing what he was asking.

"Oh, that wasn't me." She said, gesturing to the far end of the camp. "It was him."

Sure enough there was a trembling figure that had gone previously unnoticed by the two foragers. Wolfgang was attempting to hide himself behind a small boulder in the perimeter of their camp with minimal success.

"_He_ made that noise?" Willow asked in disbelief. She got a small nod in response from the girl who was too busy cradling her flower to give any other indications.

"Evil flower is scary!" Wolfgang defended from his hiding spot, sensing the threat to his honor.

"Evil is a matter of perception." Wendy shot back. Her smile was replaced by a glare after the strongman insulted her precious item. "I'm sure the rabbits would consider _you_ to be the devil."

As amusing as the following argument no doubt would have been, Wilson stepped in before it could take off.

"Everyone stop for a minute!" He demanded, stamping on the ground to emphasize his point. "Now someone PLEASE tell me what in the world is happening? _One at a time!_" He added before the two of them could both start barraging him with duel explanations.

At his gesture, Wendy gave him the details.

"The flower belongs to Abigail." She reminded him. Not that he could have forgotten such a detail even if he tried. "It gains power the closer she is to this world. The floating means that she's ready to come back!"

Wilson's mind was racing as he processed the information. The dead couldn't influence such a phenomenon, unless it was some kind of mag- _NO!_ He would not use the M word! The moment he did that, all hopes of a scientific explanation would go out the window.

He could find out what was going on if he tried hard enough.

"May I see it for a moment?" He asked, making sure his tone was as considerate as possible. He knew this item was precious to her, and wanted to ensure she knew he would treat it well.

Wendy looked down, biting her lip. Like any child, she was hesitant to trust anyone else with an item so close to her heart. Eventually she let out a small sigh and nodded.

The girl held out the flower and Wilson accepted it, cupping his hands under hers so that it would only fall a short distance. The moment she pulled back, his breath left him in a rush.

It was one thing to observe the object when it was held by its owner. To hold it in his hands was something else entirely. A not altogether unpleasant tingling sensation ran up and down his arms. A vague memory of standing in a graveyard at night as a boy surfaced in his mind. In that moment, he was back there. Terrified and drawn closer at the same time.

"Uh, Wilson? Are you feeling all right?"

Willow's voice brought the scientist back to reality. He had been so absorbed by the raw feeling that he hadn't realized how intensely he'd been staring down at the flower.

"I-I'm fine." He mumbled, feeling anything but. "Here, why don't you have this back?" There was no way he could think of a scientific answer to his question while holding it. With one smooth motion, Wendy plucked the flower from his palms and brought it back to her chest. He had to suppress a noise of mixed relief and regret as it left.

An expectant silence descended on the group as they all settled around Wendy, with the exception of Wolfgang who only ventured slightly closer. Sure he'd seen Wilson hold the flower and not be torn into pieces, but he still didn't trust it.

"So, what happens now?" Willow asked, unsure of what to make of the situation. "I mean… I'm all for meeting new people, but you said she was dead didn't you? Can she actually come back from that?"

The young girl's smile became much more unsettling as she heard that.

"Oh yes." She said. "You just sit back and watch. Soon, I'll be able to introduce you to her."

* * *

><p>It had been a long time since she felt this way before. Excited, filled with nervous anticipation. It reminded her of the times when she was very young and would wake up early on her birthday, Abigail by her side as the two of them would run to their parents' sides.<p>

Back before the cruelty of the world had taught her that such things never lasted.

That didn't matter now though. The other three all watched her in silence as she got to her feet. Rummaging through her pack, she brought out an object she'd been saving for quite some time now.

A tiny grass case she had woven held a red butterfly inside. For days, she'd devoted all of her free time to ensuring that the small insect was healthy and alive. Capturing and looking after it had been very time consuming, but it would all be worth it in a moment.

A muffled 'awwww' sounded from behind her as Willow and Wilson had soft smiles on their faces. Even Wolfgang looked significantly less afraid upon seeing the cute little thing.

Carefully, Wendy set the tiny trap down next to Abigail's flower. The others all crowded in to get a better look as she made her final preparations.

It was time.

Without word or warning, the girl lifted her right foot up high, before bringing it crashing down on creature she had looked over so diligently. The holding case smashed in on itself as the butterfly's life was extinguished with an audible crunch.

The smile vanished from Willow's face, and Wilson looked like he was about to be sick.

"What was that!?" He asked, his face the image of horrified shock. "Why did you-"

A chilling wind cut through the plains, its unexpected presence cutting off his complaints. Wisp-like threads and whispers filled the air as the sky turned several degrees darker. Letting out another wail, Wolfgang dove back behind the rock he'd taken shelter under before. The other two both recoiled from the flower as the strands of ethereal substance shot towards it.

"Wendy! Get away from it!" Willow shouted, her voice nearly being drowned out by the rushing wind. The girl however, ignored her warnings. She alone stood in the eye of the storm as a miniature hurricane swirled around her.

Very slowly, the threads formed together into a being she'd become very familiar with. The wind reached a frantic peak as the image took shape, nearly blowing her off her feet before cutting off entirely.

Silence returned. Nobody dared to make even the slightest sound as they all watched the new arrival. Every expression from terror, to denial, to awe lay bare on their faces. Wendy ignored them all.

Instead, she turned to the ghostly apparition that floated gently in front of her.

"Hello Abigail."


	6. Sister dearest

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

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><p>She had told them. Repeatedly, she'd gone to great lengths when describing her sister. She'd done it so many times, and yet Wilson had never actually believed the words to be true. He'd smile. He'd nod. He'd agree with her, because what else was there to do? Explain that her dead sibling wasn't ever coming back? It was a good thing he hadn't tried to or he'd look even more ridiculous than he did right now.<p>

When the wind finally stopped blowing, silence had moved in to take its place. Nobody dared to speak a single word for fear of destabilizing what little bonds of reality were still in place after this impossible summoning.

Wilson's mind was torn in half. The scientist in him rebelled against the very notion of what he was seeing.

It couldn't happen! Ghosts didn't rise from the dead after a blood sacrifice! Sure the flower had been floating, but that could be explained. Perhaps it had been pieced together around a small mechanical motor that simulated a hovercraft. Or maybe it had somehow entered a state of flux in which its mass would rapidly switch back and forth between being heavy and light, giving the illusion of remaining suspended in the air.

Even as that part of him dug its heels into the ground, refusing to budge another inch, the inventor in him was beyond fascinated. He'd always been interested in knowing the unknown, even if it challenged what he'd often thought sacred. Few things broke the laws of nature as thoroughly as this did.

Floating in front of Wendy was a translucent figure, emitting an eerie white light. When it remained still, the being would form into a recognizable image. It, no, _she_ looked to be the blonde girl's mirror image in almost every way. They had the same figure, the same skin and hair color, even the same clothing. However, as he looked closer, he spotted some small differences.

Where Wendy's features were soft and rounded, Abigail's looked much sharper. Her cheeks were gaunt and her body thin. The clothing that inexplicably (though thankfully) covered her hung heavily on her form, giving the implication of a spindly frame. It was as though her death had robbed her of whatever body mass she had accumulated in life.

Her eyes were also significantly different.

After spending so much time around Wendy, Wilson had grown used to the near-emotionless stare she had. Abigail couldn't have been more different if she tried. Despite having no physical form, her eyes showed a depth of feeling that communicated her thoughts as clearly as if she had just spoken them. Right now they were showing both excitement at being summoned, as well as curiosity towards the strangers that were staring in silent awe at her.

This entire evaluation took approximately five seconds. As soon as Abigail regained her bearings she started moving, an action that blurred her image into a single shapeless mass of white. The only defining features she had while in motion were her eyes, and the flower that rested weightlessly on the top of her head.

"Er… hello there…" Willow greeted as the phantom floated closer to her. From the looks of things, she was struggling to resist the urge to start sprinting in the other direction. An urge that was not being handled quite so well by Wolfgang, if the whimpering noises he was making were any indication.

The ghost responded with a strange echoing whisper sound. It was impossible to tell what was being said, but from the slight tilt of her indistinct head, it almost looked like a question of some kind.

"I-I-I don't… I mean, I-I'm not sure…" Willow's stuttering was cut off as Wendy stepped forwards.

"These are my new friends Abigail." She said warmly, standing beside the apparition. "The ones I told you about, remember? This is Willow, the man behind the rock is Wolfgang, and that's Wilson. I've been staying with them for a while now."

Hearing his name mentioned finally snapped Wilson out of the daze he'd been stuck in since the ghost girl's appearance.

"This is Abigail…?" It was more of a statement than a question, but Wendy nodded regardless.

"You believed that I was lying to you?"

"No! Of course not!" He assured reflexively. One look at her face made him regret that. She knew full well that he'd dismissed her earlier descriptions of her sister as childish hopefulness. Despite being young, she was far more mature than her appearance let on.

"Eh, well… I wasn't expecting _this_, that's for sure." He conceded, seeing that there was no use in trying to mask his initial actions from her. "How is this possible? Is there some technique to bringing her back that you learned somewhere? I've heard that there are supposedly some tribal doctors that claim to bring back the dead, but I never met anyone who could actually do it."

Now that he could see it was possible, his insatiable need for answers and explanations demanded he found out how she did it. This could be one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs in history! He could publish a scholarly article detailing raising the souls of the departed that would be referred to for centuries! Why, all he needed was-

Wendy shrugged. Such a simple gesture, and yet it caused the scientist's hopes and dreams to come crashing down around his head in an instant.

"I don't know how it works." She explained honestly. "I've always carried around her flower, and when I got here it started behaving very strangely. I found out about the blood sacrifice when a toad grabbed it from my hands. I chopped the vile creature up and suddenly Abigail was here."

As if to give credence to her words, the specter floated around the girl in a soft circle. The way the two sisters acted around one another might have been touching were it not so disturbing.

"Wolfgang, you can come out now." Willow said, trying to coax the large man out from his attempted hiding spot. "I don't think she's going to hurt us. You don't want to be rude, now do you?"

The strongman slowly crept out from behind the rock. It was clear that he was utterly mortified at the idea of being anywhere near Abigail, but to his credit he didn't flee from what was undoubtedly a terrifying experience.

"I-I-I-Is g-g-good to m-m-m-meet y-you." He offered, standing mostly out from behind his cover. Seeming to understand the nature of his concerns, Abigail stopped moving and allowed her form to slowly solidify into the transparent image of a young girl. She still looked fairly creepy, but it was enough to at least keep him from having a heart attack on the spot.

"Great. See? She's not that scary after all, is she?" Willow questioned. She seemed to have recovered quite quickly after their new guest's appearance. "Now how about we start cooking up some dinner? We went through a heck of a lot of trouble to get this honey, so I say we enjoy it."

* * *

><p>An hour later, things had settled down somewhat from the dramatic encounter. Even Wolfgang was regaining some of his lost confidence as Wendy detailed some of her sister's exploits over their meal. As promised, Wilson had cooked up a nice batch of honey glazed rabbit bits. The sweet meat, mixed with assorted berries and carrots, made for a welcome change in flavor from the dry assortment they'd been making due with.<p>

All except for the scientist himself at least. While the others enjoyed their tiny feast and listened to Wendy's stories, he turned his mind away from Abigail and towards more practical things. He knew if he kept thinking about her he'd likely go mad, so instead he decided to focus on the plans he had for expanding their campsite. After losing almost all of his recorded notes, he'd re-purposed the notepad into a sketchbook for detailing the blueprints of his future endeavors.

Right now, their home was a modest affair. A semi-large area had been cleared of grass, and a stone circled fireplace had been installed in the center. The ground had been flattened out to make for a more comfortable living area. This was where they stood during the day, sat during the evening, and slept during the night. While it wasn't the most comfortable of accommodations, Wendy had put her skills in weaving to good use creating straw mats that were much softer than the hard packed earth.

Despite this, there was still one major problem that had shown itself early on. The campsite had no protection from the rain. Each time the heavens opened up their floodgates, the four survivors, now with an added companion, would be left to fend for themselves. In addition to causing Willow to go into a near-hysterical fit each time, it made it exceedingly difficult to get a fire going.

Especially at night.

A near encounter in their first week had taught Wilson just how dangerous the dark could be. Wolfgang had stepped outside the lighted area of the fire for only a few moments to retrieve his pack which had been dropped. He'd stumbled back into the safety of the campfire clutching a heavily bleeding gash on his arm.

Something was out there. And to make matters worse, it was hunting them. None of them had any idea what it was, but neither were they foolish enough to try and find out. From that point forwards, they'd all made absolutely sure to never venture into the darkness without a source of light.

Which brought him back to the initial problem. If it was raining when night approached, things got very dangerous for them. This was why Wilson had spent almost all of his free time looking at ways to improve their current living conditions.

Shelter was the first and foremost issue in his mind. They needed something to protect them from the elements, and to bunker down in should more hounds or anything else decide to try attacking them. This was something woven grass couldn't do. They'd need to gather something much stronger.

Wood. And lots of it.

This held its own problems. The forest was a long ways away, and dragging heavy logs back to their camp as a tall order even with Wolfgang's formidable strength. Not to mention how difficult it would be to chop the trees down in the first place. Makeshift axes crafted from sticks and sharp rocks could fell the smaller ones, but it would be impractical for them to bring down a fully grown tree.

Still, they had to start somewhere. Sooner or later the group would need to venture back to the forest in order to gather the necessary resources. Regardless of how much Willow hated the place it was the only source of harvestable wood that they knew of.

In addition to the shelter, there was one other thing Wilson knew he needed to create. His workshop.

Though nobody said it out loud, they all knew they couldn't simply stay here forever. Everyone wanted to get home and there was only one man who could send them back.

Maxwell.

The scientist needed a dedicated work-space where he could spend his time to finding out more about their sinister host. He knew that if he devoted enough effort to the problem, he'd be able to crack whatever mysterious forces were at work. He'd already had several ideas for projects to work on, but currently lacked the resources and time to try completing them.

Shaking his head, Wilson decided to put those ideas into the back of his mind for the moment. It had been a very strange day and from the looks of things, nothing else was going to be done before night fell.

"-at least a dozen bat-like creatures burst from the ground." Wendy's words brought him out of his thoughts and back to the present. She was detailing an encounter she'd had while Abigail sat (and he used the word loosely) next to her. "They were wicked things, trying to bite me and emitting a horrid screeching call."

Both Willow and Wolfgang were listening in rapt attention, nobody seeming to notice that Wilson had been missing most of the story.

"Abigail swooped in like a bird of prey." She said, waving a stick in a downward pattern to demonstrate her point. "I took cover behind a nearby tree, and watched the fight unfold. Had I not dropped my ax earlier I would have helped her, but as it was the only thing I could do was stay back."

"What then?" Wolfgang questioned, looking for all the world like an eager child being read a bedtime story.

"It was difficult to see past the wall of wings and fur, but with each passing moment another of the beasts fell from the sky." Wendy detailed. While her enlarged vocabulary seemed strange in the mouth of a child, it certainly worked well for telling stories.

"Before too long the remaining bats either fled or came crashing down. Sadly, Abigail didn't make it out unscathed." At this the girl raised her arm in a sort of half-hug gesture, placing the limb as close to her ghostly sister as possible without actually touching her. "Her form was fading quickly, disappearing long before I reached her. I'd never been more frightened in my life. Thankfully, when I reached her fallen flower I could still feel her presence and knew she would be able to return."

"That's sweet." Willow said, a small smile on her face. "In a really creepy way. Do you know if there's a limit to how many times she can do that, or is it just a matter of waiting long enough for her to come back?"

It was fairly clear what she was getting at. If Abigail was even half as combat ready as her sister's stories claimed, she would no doubt be doing a lot of fighting on their behalf.

"I don't think there is a limit…" Wendy said, turning her head to the side in a rare display of being unsure. "She's only disappeared once before, but it took a long time for her to come back. Did it feel like you could get stuck on the other side?" She asked, turning to Abigail.

The phantom shrugged, causing her entire form to ripple like a pond in the breeze.

"It shouldn't be a problem." Wilson said, adding his input for the first time since they sat down to eat. "The best way to win a fight is by avoiding it in the first place. We're not going to be going around looking for trouble so we'll never have to find out how many times she can come back."

"That's a good point." Willow said, nodding her agreement. "Besides, between her and Wolfgang I doubt any monsters will be stupid enough to get in our way."

The strongman struck his fist forwards at the mention of his name, apparently having overcome his earlier fear of the ghost.

"I will fight them!" He declared. "I will protect little people! I am the mightiest!"

Wilson couldn't help but chuckle a bit when comparing his current attitude to the earlier fear. He was no doubt a very powerful, if somewhat unreliable, asset to their group.

Leaning back, the scientist finished off his meal.

* * *

><p>That night, as Wilson took his shift to look after the fire he started making a few mental plans for how they could go about gathering enough lumber to build with. It wouldn't be easy, but few things in this world were. He would conquer this challenge in the same way he did all the others. With science.<p>

Already the gears of his mind were turning, creating and discarding idea after idea. A cart would take too much time to build, and wouldn't have the carrying capacity they needed. Hauling the logs by hand was out of the question. There was no river flowing past their campsite, so they couldn't float them down.

He cast a contemplative gaze over at Abigail's indistinct form. She didn't need to sleep so instead she had taken it upon herself to patrol the borders of their camp. It was a surprisingly comforting notion to know they had a sentry now.

Perhaps she could help with the logs as well. A ghost wouldn't be limited by things like hunger or fatigue so she would be ideal for such a strenuous task. The only problem was that she was also unable to interact with the physical world outside of draining the life forces of living objects, something Wendy had demonstrated with a handful of flower petals. Not Abigail's flower of course. Just a few wildflowers that happened to be growing nearby.

Still, if she could be harmed by bat creatures it meant that she had at least some corporeal presence. If he could find a way to harness that in such a way that it allowed her to aid them, he had no doubt that she'd be an incredible benefit.

With a steady stream of thoughts and plans buzzing through his mind, Wilson let his eyes settle in the middle of the fire. One way or another, he'd figure this out.

It was just a matter of time.


	7. In the land of the pigs

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

* * *

><p>"That should about do it." Wilson remarked, putting the finishing touches on the final ax. The group had spent the better part of a day working on creating the tools they'd need for their venture back into the forest.<p>

"Great." Willow replied, with only a hint of sarcasm. She wasn't very happy to be going back. "So do you have any idea how we're supposed to get these things back? Or are we just going to be dragging them one at a time?"

It was one of the first protests she'd brought up when he suggested going to harvest lumber and he still didn't have a satisfactory response. Thankfully, what he did have was a source of motivation.

"Still working on that." He said. "But think of it this way, all that lumber can be used to make one heck of a campfire don't you think? Not all of it is going towards building."

With a few grumbles she consented. The fire starter couldn't deny that she was looking forward to getting a real bonfire going. Twigs and grass could burn, but they didn't have the same kind of majestic power that came from full sized logs.

"Everyone ready?" Wilson called, doing one final check over the camp to ensure that nothing of vital importance had been forgotten. "We're going to be gone for at least a couple of days, so be sure to bring everything you think you'll need."

"I am ready!" Wolfgang replied immediately, hoisting up Wendy's ax like some kind of sword. Since he would no doubt be doing the most cutting, he was the one who got to use the highest quality tool. The rest of them would make do with Wilson's hand crafted ones. "Show me trees! I will make many pinecone orphans!"

His enthusiasm could be somewhat unnerving at times.

"Everything is prepared." Wendy added, hoisting her pack onto her back. Her ghostly sister hovered nearby. "I have enough food rations to keep us going for at least one day, though it can last longer if we spread it out."

"Good to hear." Wilson said. "Willow? Do you have all your stuff together?"

The young woman let out a small sigh, looking back longingly at the fire pit. Even if it was just for a couple days, she would miss the area that had been dedicated to her favored craft.

"I've got everything." She said, falling in beside him. "Let's get going before I change my mind."

With a nod of confirmation, Wilson took the first steps on the journey to improve their living conditions.

* * *

><p>Nobody spoke. Nobody dared to. The journey to the forest's edge had taken a little over two and a half hours, but once they arrived one thing became painfully clear.<p>

It was not the same as it had been when they left.

"Well…" Wilson said, timidly breaking the silence that held them. "That complicates things."

The trees, no, the _entire forest_ was all but smothered in sticky webbing. The white substance clung to every surface like the desiccated fingers of a thousand corpses, making the formerly imposing pines look downright hostile.

It wasn't the first time they'd encountered spiders before. Willow had already shown a specialty for getting rid of the arachnid infestations by lighting their monstrous homes with her lighter. What made this particular instance intimidating was not the presence of spiders, but the fact that there were so many dead ones lying around.

Chitinous black bodies with legs splayed in all directions were scattered all around the forest's edge. Their bodies had cracked as though struck by some great force. As if that wasn't bad enough, many looked partially eaten.

"All right, I vote we burn the whole place down and let it sort itself out." Willow said, cringing at the sight of the piles of dead spiders. "I am _not _getting bug guts all over my cloths."

"They're arachnids, not bugs." Wilson corrected. "And we can't just light the forest on fire. We need that wood if we're going to be doing any kind of building."

She just rolled her eyes.

"I don't care if they're bugs, arachnids, or the children of Cthulhu. They're ugly, smelly, and covered in disgusting hairs. Not to mention bad tempered. Fire is the only way to get rid of them."

"You shouldn't take the name of an Elder God in vain." Wendy cautioned. "They can be quite vengeful."

The others gave her a slightly disturbed glance.

"How do you even know who… you know what? Never mind. I don't want to know." Wilson said, rubbing his forehead. "Spiders or no, we still need that lumber. This means we need to go deeper into the forest to find trees that aren't covered in spider silk."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You want us to go _deeper _into the bug infested forest?" Willow demanded, not at all happy about the situation. "Aren't you supposed to be the one looking for logical solutions or something?"

"This is the logical solution." He countered. "We can't harvest any of the trees if they're being held in place by those threads. Spider silk is incredibly strong, and we don't have anything sharp enough to cut them."

"I-I-I do n-not like plan." Wolfgang protested. "S-Spiders are scary bugs."

"_They're arachnids, not bugs!_" Wilson hissed in frustration. "Look, we don't have much of a choice in the matter. We need wood. The spiders are in the way. We have to go through them. We've done it before, and this time we have an added source of defense." At this he gestured towards Abigail's glowing form.

"She can handle plenty of spiders, can't she Wendy?" He asked.

The girl nodded.

"Spiders and bees are her specialty." She assured. "She can clear out however many nests we run across without any issues." Her words were backed up by an echoing whisper from her sister.

"That's great and all, but you're missing one major issue here." Willow pointed out. "These spiders are dead. That means that there's something out there in the forest that is nasty enough to be killing them. Doesn't that sound like a bit of an issue to you?"

Wilson sighed.

"All right, you have a point." He conceded. "But that doesn't change the fact that we have a need for those supplies, as well as a means to defend ourselves. We have to take a risk sooner or later so I still say this is our best option."

The young woman looked as though she was going to debate the point with him for a moment, but after a silent battle of wills she gave in. They needed shelter. Badly. This was their only option to get the items they needed.

"Fine." She said, relenting. "But if we die in there, I'm going to find a way to bring you back to life so that I can kill you again myself."

He felt the edges of his mouth twitch upwards at that.

"I'll take the lead." He said. "Willow, you stay behind me and keep your lighter out for a light source. It looks like it will get pretty dark in there. Wendy, you stay behind her and Wolfgang can bring up the rear. As for Abigail…" He cast a speculative glance at her. "Would you be able to stay above us and keep a look out for possible threats?"

As an answer, the ghost began drifting upwards. She began hovering near the treetops, gently floating in circles as she waited for them to proceed.

"All right." Wilson said. "Let's get going."

* * *

><p>Wolfgang didn't like this. Not one bit. When it came to fighting and feats of strength, he was second to none. Sadly, his courage didn't reflect his mighty ability. He was afraid of the dark. He was afraid of monsters, and spiders, and ghosts, and… well… a lot of things actually. That was why his senses were strained to the limit when they entered the ominous forest.<p>

He started taking deep breaths in a breathing exercise he'd learned long ago. It helped to steady his nerves somewhat, but no amount of relaxation therapy could force back the feeling of foreboding that poured out of every inch of the shadowy trees.

Hoping to draw strength from the confidence of his companions, he chose to focus on them instead of his surroundings.

Wilson was nervous, though he did a good job of hiding it. The only indication of his worry was the way he would jump ever so slightly at the sounds of the darkness around them. Wolfgang might not be the brightest of men, but he could recognize body language. The signs he saw did little to help his current mood.

Willow was much more open about her displeasure. She cast suspicious glances at every shifting shadow that lurked in the edges of their vision. Despite this, she didn't look afraid. Tense certainly, but not scared. That was a bit reassuring. He trusted her judgment more than the other man's. Wilson talked far too much about his 'science' for the strong man's tastes.

Wendy, as ever, seemed entirely unbothered by the disturbing surroundings. It was funny in a way. The smallest and least powerful member of their group was also the one who showed the least fear. Of course, that might be because of her terrifying friend.

Casting a timid glance upwards, Wolfgang caught sight of Abigail's figure flickering in and out of sight as she passed through the leafy canopy. He didn't know what to make of the ghost. She didn't seem overly hostile, but just being around her made him feel terrified. It wasn't as bad as it had been when she first arrived, that was for sure, but that didn't change the fact that she was a ghost. One of the many things that he certainly didn't like being around.

Suddenly, Wolfgang ground to a halt as a strange scent filled his nose. It was something he hadn't experienced since he'd been brought to this world.

"I smell piggy!" He shouted, turning is gaze from side to side as the others jumped at the sudden noise.

"You _what_?" Wilson asked. Before he could get an answer, the undergrowth started to shake. The group was immediately on the defensive, bringing their tools into position as improvised weapons. It was hard to tell who was the most shocked when the source of the disturbance was revealed.

"Oh…"

The figure froze, its face wearing a comically uncomprehending expression as it came into contact with the group. It was a pig. Mostly. The creature was roughly human sized as far as height was concerned, but in terms of girth only Wolfgang himself could hope to compete with it. Its meaty arms looked almost like pink miniature tree trunks, extending down into incredibly unfitting cloven hooves. As if this sheer defiance of all things sane and right in the world wasn't enough, its lower body was covered in a primitive straw loincloth. How a creature without fingers managed to create such a thing was anyone's guess.

For a second, the pig-man and the survivors stood stock still. Willow was the one to eventually break the moment.

"Kill it! Kill it with fire!"

The beast let out an incredibly high-pitched squeal as she charged it with her lighter at the ready. Despite having a body shape that was incredibly impractical for bipedal movement, it took off into the forest at an incredible speed, easily outpacing them.

"Willow! Stop for a minute! We don't know what it is! It might be friendly!" Wilson shouted, trying to reason with her as they sprinted through the stinging branches. She was far too out of breath to respond.

Soon enough, Wilson, Willow, and Wendy reached the limit of their endurance. Unable to keep up with the pig creature, they had to come to a halt. Wolfgang was so focused on reaching his target that he didn't even notice.

"Pig cannot run from me!" He yelled into the back of its retreating form. "There will be much bacon for eating tonight!" It was nice to be the one doing the chasing for once. Spiders were usually much more aggressive.

The bulky swine burst through the tree line, all but exploding into a clearing in a wave of destroyed ferns and tree parts. Seeing his chance, Wolfgang put his dash into overdrive. With a mighty rush of speed he charged forward and slammed into the pig-man's retreating form.

The strong man let out a roar of triumph as he brought the beast crashing to the ground. Unbeknownst to him, it wasn't about to go down without a fight. The pig hit the floor rolling, using its massive bulk to throw him forward and away from it.

He went sailing on what was likely one of the shortest flights in history. It ended with him smashing his face into a large clump of dirt that was sticking up at a rather inopportune location.

"Man is bad!" The pig squealed, speaking such broken English that it made Wolfgang look articulate. "Me make smash now!"

"Piggy want to fight?" He challenged back, feeling more confident than he had in a while. Spitting out a clod of mud from between his teeth, he turned to face it once more. "I am mightier! I will turn pig to paste!"

It was then that he noticed the snuffling sounds coming from all around him. With a sudden feeling of uncertainty, he took a look around at his surroundings. The clearing was filled with ramshackle houses that looked like they'd been built by carpenters who were either missing a few limbs, or heavily inebriated.

And for each house there was a rather large pig-man.

"Uh oh…"

The noises of snorting and animalistic grunts turned hostile as the pig villagers laid eyes on their unwelcome visitor. The strong man decided that now might be a good time to leave. Mighty though he was, Wolfgang was still only one man.

Unfortunately, the pigs had other ideas. He'd only managed to take a couple of steps before a wall of angry oinking muscle closed in on him from all sides. An exceptionally bulky pig managed to latch onto his arm so that he couldn't bring his ax around to strike them with. Wolfgang lashed out with feet, fists, and head-butts, but his strength was quickly overcome by sheer weight of numbers.

The last thing he was aware of was the sight of a fist-like hoof flying directly for his face before the impact sent him spiraling into darkness.

* * *

><p>"Wolfgang! Where are you!?" Wilson shouted, wearily plodding on at the head of their group. Above them, Abigail weaved in and out of the trees in search of the man. Despite his best efforts, he got no response.<p>

"At least the trail is easy enough to follow." Willow remarked, gesturing towards the newly-made pathway of broken shrubs. "It looks like a train went through this place."

The scientist shook his head in irritation.

"Why did you have to go and attack it like that?" He demanded, sparing her a very annoyed look. "For all we know, it could have been some kind of sentient species!"

"Oh don't give me that." She replied, rolling her eyes. "It was a freakish pig monster, not an alien. Did you get a good look at it? The thing certainly didn't seem intelligent looking to me."

"Beauty is only skin deep." Wendy commented. "Ugly runs straight to the core."

Wilson groaned, holding the sides of his head.

"I don't know what that's supposed to mean, but I _really _don't need this right now." He grumbled. "Next time we meet some strange new living being, let me do the talking. I'd prefer if we didn't have to go chasing down stray group members from now on."

Suddenly, Abigail came shooting down towards their position. Their attention immediately locked onto the ghost as she began making her spectral whispers.

"What is she saying?" Willow asked, turning towards Wendy. "Did she find him?"

The bereaved girl frowned, but nodded.

"I think she's saying that Wolfgang is near." She said. "But there's a problem. I'm not entirely sure what, but we should be prepared for a confrontation when we get closer."

With an air of grim determination, they got their weapons of choice ready. Willow and Wendy sported axes, while Wilson pulled out his trusty knife. It wasn't the most impressive weapon but it was far better made then the sharpened rock on a stick that constituted his other cutting tool.

"Lead on." He ordered, following Abigail's lead.

The procession continued forward until the trees started thinning out into a large clearing. It was several time the size of the one that Wilson had met his current companions in, and it was dominated by all manner of incredibly rustic log cabins. Or at least, the impressions of log cabins. If nothing else, they were the proper shape.

This wasn't what caught his eye.

In the center of it all, tied to some kind of obelisk, was Wolfgang. And behind him…

There were many things that could have been said in a moment like that. He could have made an ominous remark about the sheer volume of the figures facing them. He could have made a rallying call to arms, heartening the group for their rescue attempt. He could have even thought of several humorous comments to make about the figure. Unfortunately, Wilson wasn't feeling very poetic at the moment. All he could think to say was…

"That is one fat pig."


	8. Spirits of the forest

**This update brought to you by caffeine, because sleep is for the weak. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters.**

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><p>"That's… Different…" Willow thought out loud, her eyes going back and forth between the gathering of hominid-like pig creatures and the log houses they had constructed. The very <em>flammable <em>log houses. Wilson caught her arm to prevent her from doing anything too hasty.

"Hold on a moment." He pleaded. "I think this might be one of the rare cases in which burning things won't help." At the scandalized look he continued. "They're smart enough to build homes right? Maybe that means we can reason with them. I'd prefer to avoid turning this place into a massive pyre if at all possible."

The only thing worse than dealing with enraged pig-men, was dealing with enraged pig-men who were on fire.

With only a couple of grumbles, she nodded. It was more likely that she was worried about what they would do to Wolfgang if she went full psycho, but he appreciated the cooperation none the less.

Wendy silently beckoned for Abigail to stay close to the group. The ghost hovered near her living sibling, sending a chilling glare at any pig-villager that stared for too long.

The air was tense, but Wilson put on a brave face and stepped forwards. Keeping his eyes straight ahead, he made his way over to the largest of the pigs. A king of sorts if the crown on his head was to be believed. It was a gargantuan specimen that must have weight a literal ton as opposed to the ever so overused metaphorical version.

He spared a worried glance over at the strongman's form. Wolfgang hung limp from his position on the obelisk, but his chest still rose and fell in a regular pattern. He was alive. Right now, that was the important thing. Now all Wilson had to do was get him out of here.

"Hello there!" The scientist greeted in as friendly a manner as was possible when one was looking over a crowed of possibly homicidal beast-men. "I see that you've met one of my friends there. Listen, I think we've had a bit of a misunderstanding. You see, we're not all that used to coming across others who are quite as… _unique_ as yourselves and a couple of us may have jumped the gun a bit. Why don't we start over? My name is Wilson P. Higgsbury. Who might you be?"

The pig-king eyed him with a casual laziness that only came from those blessed with infinite power and total ignorance. Other than a few snorts, he gave no indication that he understood, or even heard, the gentleman's introduction.

"Um… hello?" Wilson ventured, still getting no reaction. "Do you get what I'm saying? Would you mind letting my friend down please?"

"Little man not bother king!" One of the larger pigs growled, stepping forward imposingly. His advance was met with an echoing threat from Abigail that made him stop, but not back down. "King have better things to do than talk with you!"

It was times like this that the scientist was glad he knew how to handle rude people. Losing his temper while surrounded could only end badly.

"My apologies." He replied with forced sincerity, not bothering to ask what 'better things' the king was actually capable of doing. He certainly didn't seem to be able to move from that spot with his considerable weight.

"I didn't mean to impose on your hospitality. I really just want to collect my companion. If you would be so kind as to let him down, we'll be on our way and I promise that we won't be bothering you again."

It was funny the way the pig's face scrunched up when he listened to Wilson speak, almost like he'd bitten into a very sour lemon.

"Man not go free." The spokespig declared, jabbing his arm… hoof… thing… forward for emphasis. "He try smash Twinkie! We make him offering to protect village."

"_Twinkie?_ One of them is named _Twinkie?_" Willow exclaimed, her opinion of the creatures dropping at breakneck speed. "Can we please just get to the burning part? We all know how this will end."

"I'm inclined to agree." Wendy added. "We could use the pork rations back home. Only eating rabbit tends to get dull after a while."

"Now wait just a minute!" Wilson interjected, holding up his hands in an attempt to avert the looming catastrophe. "Why do you need an offering? I know the forest can be a bit dangerous, but nothing could threaten a community of this size surely?"

At this the pigs lost a bit of their savagery. Some looked nervously over their shoulders while the majority took a couple of timid steps backwards. The spokespig was the only one who was able to keep his nerve.

"Need offering to keep angry trees away." He explained, his eyes holding a tinge of fear behind the mask of bravado. "We smash trees, make homes. Forest get angry. Need offering to make happy again."

Wilson listened attentively, his mind already thinking how to turn this news to his advantage. It was clear that the pigs were stricken by some superstitious fear of the forest. After all, trees couldn't hurt you. Unless they fell on you of course. Then they could hurt quite a bit.

Regardless, this bad situation could be turned around with the right amount of verbal finesse.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry to hear that." He said, bowing his head slightly. "But I think you may be in luck. You see, we happen to be expert tree killers. If you let our friend go, I think we might be able to get rid of your problem for you."

The crowed began murmuring among themselves. From the expressions on their faces, they were both suspicious of his offer and hopeful of its truthfulness. Some seemed almost in awe that he had even suggested such a thing. They must have been very afraid of the trees if offering to get rid of them caused this kind of a reaction.

"You can kill bad trees?" The spokespig asked hesitantly. His posture was now significantly less threatening than it had been before. "Make so we no need offerings no more?"

"Yes Wilson, why don't you tell _all _of us exactly what you're getting at?" Willow suggested, narrowing her eyes. She knew that he was volunteering them for something big, and it didn't sit well with her.

"Of course we can." He assured, giving the fire starter a glance that pleaded with her to just play along. They could discuss the finer points of his actions later. "We happen to be very good at getting rid of trees. You see her? Her name is Willow, and she can conjure fire on demand. Now what tree can stand up to something like that?"

With a roll of her eyes, the young woman pulled out her lighter and flicked the switch. A startled gasp emanated from a couple dozen throats as the crowed eyed the newly born flame with mixed interest and apprehension.

The pigs started whispering amongst themselves, or at least he assumed they were. Their voices were quieter but still plenty loud enough for him to hear. It was only when the spokespig began stamping his feet down impatiently and smacking a few of them on the head that they managed to regain some semblance of order.

"Trees make life bad for us." The pink creature stated. "Ugly man try smash us too, but if you kill angry trees we let him go. You be friends then."

"I'm not sure I want to be friends with them…" Willow remarked. Thankfully it was too quiet for any of the pigs to hear.

"Tell you what." Wilson said, deciding to push his luck a bit now that he had them where he wanted them. "Once we deal with those trees of yours, we'll even get rid of them. We have a bit of a building project coming up and we could use the extra lumber. If you would be so kind as to help us move the logs, we'll make sure you don't ever have to look at those nasty things again."

He could practically see the one working gear in the spokespig's head turning slowly while he tried to decide if this was actually a good deal or not.

"That lot of work." He said. Apparently he was a bit smarter than they had given him credit for. "What in it for us? We just smash pieces if we no want see them anymore."

"Well…" The scientist began, searching his mind for some kind of source of motivation. What did giant pink tribesmen want? They had shelter. They didn't seem all that interested in clothing or jewelry. That only left…

"How about some rabbit stew?" Willow offered, deciding to follow Wilson's plan. "We've got a lot of rabbits near our camp, so there should be enough for everyone. It would run our supplies dry but we don't have much of an alternative."

"You give food?" The spokespig questioned, immediately perking up. The sudden eagerness spread like wildfire through the crowd. Soon, each one of them was looking hopefully towards the humans and pressing forwards, earning a couple warning noises from Abigail.

Of course. Food. What an obvious solution. He knew that ordinary pigs were renowned for their willingness to eat just about anything. Why would pig-men be any different?

"Absolutely." He stated with confidence. "Point us at the trees and help us get the logs back home and we'll make sure you eat as many rabbits as you can stomach."

Thankfully their experience with Wolfgang meant that they had taken to storing far more food than they needed themselves. The man ate like there was no tomorrow, and he was willing to bet that the pigs did too.

The assorted pig creatures let out a mighty cheer at those words. Their jumping and excitement roused Wolfgang from his forced slumber.

"Ugh… What… Who…" After several dazed moments, he noticed Wilson and the others.

"Friends!" He shouted. "Help! I am stolen!"

"It's all right big guy." Wilson assured, gesturing towards the pigs that were now treating him like a conquering hero. "We've got everything taken care of. Just give us a second to get you down and I'll fill you in on what's been going on."

* * *

><p>Willow checked the edge of her ax for what felt like the hundredth time. She had to admit that this plan, despite having come entirely out of nowhere, seemed almost too good to be true. Cut down a few trees and get the pigs to carry them home? It was like having their own personal servants. Very smelly servants…<p>

Still, no matter how good it looked she couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

"How much farther until we reach the trees?" She asked. The pig that had spoken to them earlier turned to answer, not even noticing as he plowed through assorted branches.

"Trees close now. Can feel their badness. Not far."

Despite the almost unintelligible form of his response, she was inclined to agree. These trees felt different somehow. Almost as though they were watching the tiny little meatlings that dared to trespass in their home.

She wasn't the only one who noticed either. While Wolfgang and Wilson strode on confidently, apparently oblivious to the ominous presence, Wendy was getting a bit edgy. The girl's eyes would shoot to the side at the slightest noise. Willow didn't know what she saw when she did that, but from the growing frown on her face it probably wasn't good. In response to her mood, Abigail hovered protectively near her.

"You feel it too?" The fire starter questioned softly. She nodded.

"The forest is old here." She spoke, taking on the old monotone that she had possessed during the early days after they'd found her. "It is not pleased with our intrusions. I don't think bringing these trees down will be any simple task."

Willow was inclined to agree.

"Well, at least we have one advantage." She said. Wendy gave her a questioning glance, to which she flicked open her lighter. "Trees burn."

"That they do." The child said, with a conspiratorial smile.

"Up here!" The pig announced suddenly, coming to an immediate halt. "You go in there. Kill bad trees. If you not get dead we help bring trees for houses. I go back now."

"You're not coming with us?" Willow asked. She wasn't happy about being left without someone who knew the woods. Sure Abigail could lead them out eventually, but she still had flashbacks to being lost in here again.

He vehemently shook his head.

"I no go in there!" He exclaimed. "I not stupid! You want get smash you go. I go back."

Without any further words of encouragement, he promptly turned around and began running back to the pig-village. The survivors watched him go with varying levels of interest.

"Bye bye piggy!" Wolfgang shouted, waving at his retreating form.

Wilson rolled his shoulders once, gesturing for the others to follow him.

"Come on." He said. "Let's get chopping. Those trees aren't going to dispose of themselves. And the sooner we get this job done the sooner we can go home."

They all grouped together and pushed into the area that had disturbed their guide so much. The change was immediate. Not even the two males could ignore the sheer hostility that practically oozed out of every inch of the forest now. This was not somewhere that they were welcome.

The trees held bark that was so dark it was almost obsidian in color. The branches reached out towards them with jagged edges, as though intent on tearing at whatever they could get a hold of. The pine needles more resembled tiny razors than actual leaves.

To make things even worse, the giant pines seemed to lean in on them giving the tiny humans a feeling of paranoid claustrophobia.

"I have second thoughts about plan…" Wolfgang said, losing some of his confidence. "This place seem bad."

"We can't turn back just because things look a bit… uh… sinister." Wilson offered, looking none too sure of himself. "Just remember, we are smarter than the trees. They can't hurt us if we approach this intelligently."

A small hand reached up to tug on his sleeve, causing him to jump in surprise. He suppressed a shout when he realized it was only Wendy.

"Oh, sorry about that." He said, chuckling nervously. "You scared me a bit." She didn't laugh. In fact, she looked somewhat worried.

"We need to leave."

The scientist was taken aback by her sudden desire to flee. She'd shown no signs of being distressed earlier, so he hadn't the slightest idea why she would suddenly feel the need to do so now.

"Now don't worry." He ventured, trying to calm her down. "These are just trees. We've dealt with worse right? I mean, what about those hounds? They were scarier than some cheesy pine trees weren't they? And we got rid of them without too much trouble."

She looked like she wanted to say something, but any reply she might have made was cut off when a rumbling sound filled the air. The ground beneath their feet suddenly shook violently, forcing them to the ground.

"What is that!?" Willow exclaimed. "Is it an earthquake!?"

"No…" Wendy's reply was so quiet that it was almost lost in the thundering noise, but they didn't need to hear it. Her gaze said enough. Following her eyes, they all came face to face with something that was straight out of a nightmare.

Wilson's mouth dropped open as Wolfgang let out a horrified wail. The earth wasn't shaking. It was being split open. The fractures all coalesced around the base of a single, massive pine that was twisting in the ground as though trying to wrench itself free.

In fact, that was exactly what it was trying to do.

"Get back." Nobody seemed to hear Willow's warning. They were all too struck by the image of a snarling face splitting open the bark and glaring down at them.

"_GET BACK!_" They heard her that time. The group barely managed to dash out of the way as a massive, woody, talon scythed through the air where they had been standing only a moment ago. Wilson, Willow, Wolfgang, Wendy, and Abigail all began running for their lives as fast as they could go.

Behind them, a titanic roar signaled that the tree monster was giving chase.


	9. Set the world on fire

**First off, sorry for the delay. Normally this would have been uploaded last week but things have been pretty busy around here. Hopefully this won't be an issue in the future, but I may need to take a break every now an then. Anyway, on with the show.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters **

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><p>The forest was coming alive. It was like every horror story Wilson had ever heard while sitting in the dark around a campfire. Every way he turned revealed another of those terrifying things pulling themselves free from the ground. Some were massive, towering above the puny humans like a wooden building. Others were small, only slightly larger than he was. Despite this, they all had one thing in common.<p>

They were all very, _very_, angry. Murderous glares adorned each of their faces. The image of their unnatural bodies was so grotesque that Wilson felt as though the edges of his sanity were being pulled apart just by laying eyes on them. No… not just felt like. The more he looked, the greater the pain in his head built up. Their unnatural forms ripped at the corners of his mind, finding purchase and seeking to drag him down into the depths of-

"_Get down!_"

Before the scientist had time to process the meaning of the words, Willow slammed into his side sending the two of them crashing to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, Wilson caught sight of the wickedly curved claw that had lashed out in an attempt to cleave him in half. There was no time to thank her for saving his life. The moment they regained their footing, they immediately had to start running again. The pressure that had been building up in his skull slowly dissipated now that he was no longer entranced by its source.

"Follow me, quickly!" Wendy shouted, dashing for a pair of the massive beasts. Her plan quickly became apparent. At her gesture Abigail shot through the canopy like a spectral bird of prey, assaulting the two wooden behemoths. Both were forced to step back, trying to gain the room they needed to attack their assailant.

Wilson dashed after the girl knowing full well that her sister's distraction wouldn't last long. Willow and Wolfgang followed behind him as fast as their legs would carry them. They didn't get far before another emerging tree monster forced them to take a hard right, sending them back towards the original grove.

"Any bright ideas?" Willow called from behind him. A frantic note had entered her voice.

"Uh." In all honesty, he was still struggling to come to terms with the fact that _living trees _were crawling out of the ground. "Just keep running!" It wasn't his greatest plan, but it was the only thing he could think of right now.

Wendy was starting to slow. Having both shorter legs and less endurance than the others, she felt the effects of fatigue before any of the others. It came as a surprise to everyone, none the least herself, when Wolfgang stepped in to take the initiative.

"Little girl is not run fast enough!" He said, scooping her up with one of his massive arms. The strongman didn't even break his stride as he carried the new, and very indignant, burden.

Abigail darted back and forth, doing everything she could to stave off the tide of horrors that were closing in on them. Each time she made contact with one of them a cascade of dead branches and pine needles would fall to the ground, followed by a booming wail as the life force was drained out of them. Even so, she couldn't be everywhere at once and the trees were starting to learn that she was a threat. It was getting much more difficult for her to close in without getting swatted out of the air.

Wilson's heart leapt as he sighted what was likely their only chance.

"Over there!" He directed. "The tree line is thinning out! If we can get out in the open, they won't be able to cut us off!"

The heartening news of a possible escape route gave them the strength to put on an added burst of speed. The monsters roared in protest as their quarry pulled away, dashing towards the light. The scientist felt a rush of triumph burn through his system as he broke through the last few branches barring their way. Each nerve was alight with reinvigorated energy…

Only to turn to ice when he realized his mistake.

"Oh no…"

The trees hadn't thinned due to the forest ending. They'd thinned because there was no more room for them to grow. Wilson stared off the edge of a sheer cliff, extending at least a hundred feet straight down into the crashing waves below. All four survivors ground to a halt, only a few steps from the edge.

"Turn back! Fast!" Wilson urged, trying to make up for the error. "We need to get going before-"

Too late.

As he turned back to flee into the forest once more, he was greeted by the sight of the massive creatures blocking their escape in a semicircle formation. Abigail drifted between the creatures and their targets, trying to slow their advance with minimal success.

"We're surrounded." Wendy pointed out unnecessarily from Wolfgang's shoulder. She'd stopped struggling with her captor, too caught up in their current predicament to worry about personal space.

Wilson's mind ran through dozens of possible strategies, each one being rapidly shot down the moment it came into creation. Trying to run through a gap in their lines would only get them torn to pieces. Splitting up would do no good. The water was too far down, and much too rough for them to try swimming away. There was no way out.

Or so he thought.

When it became clear that the scientist was at a loss for what to do, Willow stepped forward. A dozen pairs of bark-crusted eyes, along with three human and one ghost's gaze, all watched in disbelief as the young woman strode towards the towering things with determination glinting in her eyes.

With a flick of her wrist, she brought the flame of her lighter into being.

"Back off." She growled, holding the flickering item forward like a sword. "Or I'll turn you all into kindling." Her expression held a hint of fear, but the arm that held her lighter didn't tremble in the slightest.

The trees halted at the sight of fire. Regardless of whether or not they could understand her words, they recognized the threat that an open flame posed to their wooden bodies. For an instant, a tense stalemate descended between the two groups. None of the creatures wanted to be the first to tempt the fire starter's wrath, and none of the humans wanted to try their luck making a break for it.

"What we do now science man?" Wolfgang asked, his eyes darting back and forth between Willow and their assailants nervously. At some point he'd either set Wendy down, or she'd wriggled free of his grasp. "Do we fight?"

Wilson couldn't turn to answer him. He was too focused on the expression that was fixed on the young woman's face.

"Willow…" He cautioned, seeing the manic light that was starting to emerge in her eyes. She was staring far too intently at the creatures for his liking.

"Come on big guys." She goaded, her voice rising in pitch ever so slightly. "Not afraid of a little _fire _are you?" Why she would possibly be taunting them at a time like this, he couldn't begin to guess.

Even if they didn't know exactly what she was saying, the challenge in her voice was obvious. The spirits of the forest were not pleased by her audacity.

"Willow, please! Think about what you're doing!" Wilson urged. With the limited amount of room they had, igniting the trees would result in them either being hacked to pieces by the enraged creatures, burned to death by their flaming bodies, or hurled off the edge of the cliff to a watery grave. It was hard to tell which outcome was the least appealing.

For her part, Willow was looking somewhat unstable. The edges of her lips twitched as though she were fighting back a rather disturbing smile. As a few of the bolder tree creatures inched closer, a manic giggle broke free from her throat. It was choked and muffled, slipping through only after having been held down for as long as was physically possible.

What had gotten into her? Wilson found that it was a question he couldn't answer. Willow didn't seem like the type of person to have a mental breakdown at the drop of a hat. It was so out of character that he… wait…

With a dawning horror, he realized that she'd been staring directly at the forest giants this entire time. Just a few moments of that had proved to be exceedingly painful for him earlier.

"Willow!" He shouted, running up to her side in order to divert her attention away from the creatures. "Listen to me! You need to look away! I don't know what those things are, but the longer- GAH!"

The scientist was forced to jump back in shock when a tiny plume of fire burst into being in front of him.

"What in the world…?"

Had it been a loose spark from her lighter? No, it couldn't be. As Wilson watched, a handful of tiny flames simply appeared on the ground forming a small circle around Willow.

"Aww, look how pretty they are." She fawned, finally tearing her gaze away from the trees. "And there's so many of them!"

She was right. Wilson, Wendy, and Wolfgang were forced to backpedal all the way to the edge of the cliff as more and more flames sprung from the ground. Even Abigail couldn't remain close to the fire starter due to the intense heat. The new arrivals quickly linked up with those already in place, creating a steadily growing bonfire that encompassed the young woman completely.

"Willow!" Wilson shouted, panic threatening to override his other senses. "Get out of there! Quickly! You need to get away from the flames!" He didn't know what was going on, but he knew she had to find a way out of the burning swath of flame that threatened to consume her.

"Willow!" His scream was all but drowned out as the writhing inferno increased in size. The scientist was helpless to do anything other than look on as the young woman's form disappeared from sight.

Not satisfied with the meager offering, the ravenous flames began spreading out and consuming everything they touched. Too late, the trees beasts realized the peril of their situation. An earsplitting wail erupted as the nearest one caught fire, wildly swinging its massive arms and stumbling around in a vain attempt to stave off the inevitable. Its companions soon found themselves in the same predicament.

One by one, the monstrous pines ignited. Their burning forms went up in the blink of an eye until they resembled walking pillars of flame. For a single breathless moment, it looked as though they would stumble back into the woods and set the entire forest on fire but something stopped them. Hearing the distant sound of waves crashing into the side of the island, something in their primitive minds registered the presence of water.

Blinded by the pain of their burning, the living trees charged towards the cliff face in desperation. Never once giving pause to think about the ramifications of jumping off.

"Move!" Wilson shouted, not that the others needed any encouragement. As the titanic creatures charged headlong towards the edge, the three humans dashed for cover to avoid being flattened by their massive limbs. The maddened procession ended just as suddenly as it began with the trees hurtling as one off the cliff and into the sea. Those who experienced a moment of clarity and hesitated were dragged along unwillingly as their less intelligent brethren forced them forward from behind.

As the last of the creatures threw itself towards the roiling waters below, the chaos of the last few minutes began to return to some semblance of normalcy. The only sound that could be heard was that of the last few crackling embers, most of the larger flames having been trampled out in the stampede.

"Wendy? Wolfgang? Are you all right?" Wilson called, hoisting himself off the ground. He was sporting several new cuts and bruises but was otherwise none the worse for his experience.

"Too close!" Came the muffled reply from the strongman. He sat up shakily, spitting a clod of dirt from his mouth as he did so. Not far from him, Wendy rose to her feet slightly dazed, her ghostly sister hovering close by.

When it became clear that none of them were hurt, Wilson turned his attention to the dying bonfire that still clung to life where the fire starter had been standing a short time ago.

"Willow…" He'd known this place was dangerous. He'd known that the odds of them surviving were slim. Even so, seeing the raven-haired girl burn right before his very eyes left a bitter weight in his gut. It was like he had swallowed a gallon of molten lead, solidifying in the core of his body. She hadn't deserved this, and he'd just sat back and watched it happen…

With guilt and sorrow pulling him down in equal measure, he edged his way closer to the flames. The rational part of his mind told him to ensure that the body was covered up before the others had a chance to see. Laying eyes on a charred corpse would only crush their already damaged morale, something they couldn't afford in this place.

As the stubborn blaze slowly burned away the remaining fuel keeping itself alive, the heat became less unbearable. Wilson was able to get closer and even make out the edges of a figure in its center.

Wait a minute. Was the figure… standing?

"Willow!"

Shock and relief poured out of his voice as the scientist laid eyes on the last sight he'd expected. In the heart of the dissipating flames, entirely unharmed, was Willow. Not so much as a single thread of her clothing had been even singed despite having been exposed to a veritable inferno.

"Willow!" He called again, rushing into the heart of the dying blaze. He didn't even care as some of the more lively lounges of flame attempted to lick the edges of his vest. In six swift paces he made his way to her side, nearly forgetting himself and crushing her in a bear hug but managing to stop at the last moment. She might still be injured and it wouldn't do to hurt her further.

"Hey." He said, trying to get her attention while grasping her shoulders in a steadying grip. "Are you all right? What happened just now? How did you manage to do that?"

His questions fell on deaf ears. Willow swayed in place unsteadily, her gaze largely unfocused. It took her several moments to even realize that he was holding onto her. When she did, a tiny giggle, thankfully less insane sounding than before, pushed its way out of her throat.

"What's so funny?" Wilson questioned with growing concern. Behind him, the others were looking on in confusion. They didn't understand what had just happened any more than he did.

"You're hair…" She replied, hardly managing to form the sentence with the suppressed mirth that she was trying to hold back. "It makes it look like your head is on fire. It's really pretty."

"W-What!?" The gentleman scientist felt himself blush as he reached up to pat the top of his head self-consciously. "My hair? I-It doesn't look like that does it? I-I mean… I don't think…"

He never got his answer as, without any semblance of warning or reason, Willow collapsed in his arms. The sudden weight threatened to topple him over, but fear of dropping her on the ground gave Wilson the motivation to stay upright.

"Ok then…" He sighed, pulling one of her arms over his shoulder to better support her limp form. "Wolfgang? Would you mind helping me here? I think this is going to make for a very interesting conversation when she wakes up."

* * *

><p>About an hour later, the group found themselves situated in the center of the pig village. Unlike their first entrance, they were hailed like conquering heroes rather than vile marauders. More than one pig had already challenged Wolfgang to a wrestling match, a kind of good-natured competition that they all seemed to enjoy. A few of the more adventurous ones had even invented a game that involved getting as close to Abigail as possible without being horribly maimed by the annoyed spirit. So far, the record seemed to be about three arm's-lengths. None had dared to try her patience beyond that.<p>

"Do you know how crazy you sound right now?" Willow said, holding the side of her head and grimacing. She'd woken up not long ago, and Wilson had taken it upon himself to fill her in on the details of her death-defying feat. Much to his surprise she'd woken up with no memory of the event and a splitting headache.

"I know it sounds insane, but I was there. So were you for that matter." He assured, handing over a wet rag which she gratefully accepted. Despite her normal aversion to water, the relief it provided her pounding head more than made up for its lack of combustibility.

She wrapped the soggy object around her forehead with a sigh of relief.

"How much do you remember?" He asked, trying to get an idea of how such an occurrence was possible. "You started acting strange after threatening the trees."

"That's about it." She said. "I remember pulling out my lighter and trying to scare them off. After that… things get a little fuzzy."

"Hmmm." Wilson rubbed the base of his chin thoughtfully. Now that there was no danger, he'd devoted much of his effort to thinking up explanations for her apparent immunity to the flames as well as where they had come from. He hadn't been very successful, and he wouldn't ever consider asking her to try repeating the display by stepping into a live flame. At least, not without a bucket of water nearby.

"Well, it was a very lucky accident then." He said, deciding that it would have to be a mystery to be solved on another day. "It had the fortunate side effect of saving our hides and getting rid of the giant trees that had been haunting the pigs. Which means…"

Looking over his shoulder, he observed the steadily growing pile of lumber in the heart of the village. The pig-men had jumped at the task of gathering wood as soon as it became clear that there was no longer a threat of the trees coming to life and smashing them into bacon bits.

"We're going to be getting those new buildings soon."

Willow smiled at the thought, imagining a proper shelter and giving an appreciative hum. Compared to sleeping out in the open, even a ramshackle house like the ones used by the pigs would be a blessing.

Having survived their most recent ordeal, the survivors allowed themselves to get lost in the revelries of the pig village. A massive bonfire was constructed before the pig-king, and a feast held in their honor. The celebration extended long into the night, leaving them all exhausted and worn out the following morning.

In all the merrymaking none of them knew, or truly even suspected, that a pair of eyes watched them from the shadows. Seeing all. Missing nothing. The sinister gaze followed their every move with the utmost interest.

After all, these were _his _playthings. The tools to bring his plans together.

The keys to his freedom.


	10. The fungus among us

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

* * *

><p>"That one should go to the left. No, the <em>left.<em> Your other left! Pepper! Stop trying to eat that! It didn't work the first three times, it's not going to work this time."

The state of the campsite could only be described as chaotic. All around, a dozen pig-men ran around attempting to turn the patch of ground into something that resembled a functioning home. The difficulty of this task was compounded by the fact that they were instantly distracted by anything edible, anything that looked like it might be edible, or simply anything that could be fit inside their mouths with a reasonable amount of effort. Wilson's constant ordering was the only thing that kept the lot of them from forgetting the whole reason they were here.

"Geta and Salty, I'm going to need two more logs on the eastern wall." He directed, pointing at the mentioned wall since he was fairly sure they had no idea which direction was east. "Lift at the same time now. You don't want to hurt anything."

Slowly but surely, the foundations of the shelter were coming together. Already half of the main two structures were set up. Both his workshop and the future sleeping areas were starting to resemble usable buildings. It should only take a couple more days at this rate for the final touches to be added.

"Hey! Wilson!" Willow's call signaled the return of his companions. While the pigs had been an incredible aid in building, they'd also been a constant drain on resources. This meant that everyone other than the scientist himself had been put on scavenger duty in order to feed their constant hunger.

The woman's voice nearly triggered a stampede as the pigs forgot all about their previous tasks now that there was a possibility of food being brought to them. Thankfully a few very loud warnings from Wilson, mostly about being given half-rations should they abandon their work now, managed to keep the rowdy group in line.

"How's it going Willow?" He asked, wiping sweat from his brow as he approached her. She wasn't carrying a sack full of edible items so either she'd come back early for some reason, or they'd run out of food in the surrounding area. Hopefully it wasn't the second.

"Well… it _was _going all right." She replied, tapping her foot and looking over her shoulder back the way she had come from. "But we ran into a slight problem. You'll have to come with me, and make sure you bring a shovel. I'll explain on the way there."

By this point, he knew better than to try to push for more details. He trusted her judgment and knew that she wouldn't have interrupted if it wasn't important.

"Sure thing. Just give me a sec and I'll be right there." He assured, wondering what oddity had decided to disrupt their routine this time.

* * *

><p>"What… in the name of all that is scientific… is <em>that<em>?" The four survivors and their ghostly guardian were grouped together at the base of a hill. They had all gathered around to get a good look at something that looked for all the world like a giant mouth in the ground. It was as though some enormous worm or leech had burrowed up to the surface, only to give up as soon as it had broken through the final layers.

"We were hoping you could answer that." Willow replied. "Right now, all we know is that it's a problem. Isn't that right Wolfgang?" The strongman rubbed the back of his head sheepishly at the annoyed gaze she sent his way.

Sensing a story, Wilson decided to bite.

"Did something happen?" He asked cautiously, keeping the strange opening in his line of vision. He didn't trust it to remain there and not jump out of the ground suddenly.

Willow and Wendy both eyed Wolfgang with an expression that clearly said 'get on with it'. Clearing his throat, he began his explanation.

"I was gathering food for piggies." He said, doing his best to show sincerity by miming the actions of picking up items. "Pigs no like plant foods, so I find many bunnies. Many, many bunnies!"

Something told Wilson he wasn't going to like whatever this was leading to.

"I fill backpack up with bunnies I catch, but when I turn around to come home… dirt mouth is blocking my way." He shuffled a bit nervously as he spoke the last bit.

Wendy shook her head in exasperation.

"What he means to say is that he laid eyes upon it and panicked." She said. "In his haste, he tried to scare it off by throwing something at it. Something that just so happened to be containing all the food and supplies he'd been gathering."

The scientist took a moment to process the words.

"…You threw your pack at it?"

"It sneak up on Wolfgang!" The man proclaimed, not bothering to explain how something without any obvious means of locomotion could sneak up on anyone. "And it look hungry! I keep it from eating other small people by feeding bunnies!"

With a groan, Wilson realized why Willow had been so insistent that he bring a shovel.

"Let me guess." He said, turning to the young woman. "Now you want me to try digging this thing out of the ground to get them back?"

"Well there's that, and we could probably feed it to the pigs." She said with a shrug. "They're not that picky on eating so long as its meat right?"

"Why am _I _the one who needs to dig it out?" He countered, raising an eyebrow.

She wasn't fazed by the question. "Wolfgang won't go near it because he thinks it's going to eat him, Wendy certainly doesn't look suited to digging holes in the ground. Or at least, not holes this big. And Abigail can't hold a shovel."

"What about you?" He questioned. "I'm supposed to be directing the pigs back home. Shouldn't you be the one with the shovel?"

She looked aghast at the mere notion of his suggestion.

"I'm not getting up close to that thing!" She stated. "It's slimy, and smells like the time my aunt's cat crawled inside the wall and died there."

"Honestly…" Wilson sighed dramatically. "I swear, if it weren't for me you'd all be dead by now. I feel like I'm the only one who does anything around here anymore."

"Don't start with me." She warned, poking him in the chest. "If it weren't for _us_ you wouldn't have lasted for the first week mister 'science can explain all my problems'. You need us to keep from having a mental breakdown."

Despite his grumblings, he knew she was right. Without them he likely would have gone insane within the first few close encounters with the kind of logic defying creatures that inhabited this world.

Still, that didn't mean he had to like digging.

It was with the utmost hesitance that he approached the oddity poking out of the dirt. As he drew closer, the thing seemed to sense his presence and actually opened its mouth. The wave of fetid air hit him full force, causing him to double over in a fit of dry heaving. Willow hadn't been kidding. It _did_ smell like dead cat.

While disgusting and utterly nauseating, the open mouth did let him get a good look down the things throat. He was slightly disturbed to find that it extended well into the ground and out of sight. Just how big was this thing?

"Hey guys. I think we might need more than just a shovel." He called back to the watching group. "From the looks of things, it's a lot bigger than it looks and it looks pretty big to begin with."

The sound that answered him was not the one he'd been expecting. Several shouts of surprise broke the formerly serene atmosphere, and Wendy's voice cut through with a warning.

"Wilson! Behind you!"

The scientist spun on his heel, expecting some kind of spider or other monster to be waiting for him. The reality was much worse. In the brief amount of time he had to take in the scene he noticed that the shadows had suddenly grown longer.

No… not longer. They'd begun stretching certainly, but instead of going outward as they would if they were created from the light of the sun, they had started connecting with each other. The mass of darkness had coalesced into the shape of a hand whose fingers curved into wicked claws.

As he stared open-mouthed at the impossible occurrence, the macabre arm lifted off the ground and reared back like a cobra about to strike.

Wilson regained his senses just in time to raise the shovel in an attempt to block as the freakish thing launched forwards. The hand struck the handle with considerable force, shoving the scientist backwards. He quickly darted one of his legs back in order to get a better foothold and brace himself.

And stepped right into the waiting mouth.

The world suddenly felt like it was moving at a snail's pace. Wilson was able to see the mixed expressions of shock on his friend's faces as they saw him tip over the edge. Willow was already in motion, rushing forwards in an attempt to save him, but it was far too late. Gravity was a cruel mistress who had no pity on the foolish and unfortunate.

As soon as his weight began dragging him down, the illusion of slowed time was destroyed. He plunged into the gaping maw, falling into a fleshy abyss with nothing to save himself. The last thing he heard before the mouth shut out the single spot of light in his vision was Willow's frantic shout.

"_WILSON!"_

* * *

><p>Awareness returned to the scientist slowly. He was lying face down in the dirt, which admittedly was a big improvement over the giant stomach he'd feared would be his tomb. With a massive effort, he managed to push himself so that he was lying on his back and staring up at the sky. A weary groan issued from his chest as every muscle made sure he knew how rough a ride it had been.<p>

Blearily, he took in the details of the cloudless dark blue expanse that hung above his head. He was content to just lie there, until he noticed one very important detail.

It was starting to get dark.

_How long was I out?_ He assumed that it had been about mid-day when that freakish hand… shadow… thing had pushed him into the giant mouth. That sounded a lot less dramatic when he thought about it. He'd have to come up with a more impressive way to phrase it later in order to preserve what little dignity he had left.

Shuddering at the sickening feeling of the slime that coated his body, Wilson pushed himself up into a sitting position. As he did, he spotted his shovel as well as Wolfgang's pack laying a short distance away. The bunnies had all escaped long ago but at the very least he could recover the bag.

_I wonder what made it spit everything back up._ Maybe the force of his fall had triggered some sort of digestive upset inside the creature's stomach. Maybe it just hadn't been hungry. Either way, he was thankful that it had decided let him out. It was going to be a long walk back to camp, and with the sun as low as it was right now he'd be cutting it a bit close.

_Wait a minute…_ He thought to himself, realizing something. _Where are the others?_

Willow, Wolfgang, Wendy, and Abigail had all seen him fall into the giant mouth so wouldn't they be around trying to get him out? He hoped that they simply hadn't given up and gone back without him. That would be a bit disappointing. It was a mixed blessing when he realized that wasn't the case.

"Oh lord…"

A quick look around Wilson's surroundings revealed that he was not in the grassy field that he'd been in when the mishap had started. In fact, he wasn't anywhere that he recognized.

He was standing in the middle of a graveyard.

Churned earth and decaying headstones stretched as far as the eye could see. Which, given the moderately thick blanket of mist, wasn't all that far. The entire scene had an almost unnatural quiet to it. No birds chirped in the background. No insects buzzed past his head. The only movement that could be seen was the slow drifting of the misty veil.

"H-Hello?" Wilson called, hoping against hope that he wasn't alone out here. "Willow? Wendy? Wolfgang? Anyone?"

Silence. Not even an echo. Only the oppressive lack of noise answered his call.

"Anyone…"

So many graves… Did they actually hold bodies, or was this some sick décor of Maxwell's design? It wouldn't surprise him if the man had decided he liked the atmosphere they gave, but if they were real that raised some very serious issues. It would mean that Wilson and his friends weren't the first people to be brought to this world. And, from the looks of things, none of the others had fared well.

Fighting down his rising fears, Wilson turned his attention to more practical issues. He needed fire before night fell, and there didn't seem to be much in the way of kindling. He didn't want to burn Wolfgang's pack if it could be avoided so he needed to focus on finding anything that could be used in its place.

With a brief look over his shoulder, he considered jumping back into the repulsive opening in the ground. It had spit him out in the middle of nowhere, so conceivably it could be possible that going in again would send him home.

Or someplace worse…

Either way he dismissed the idea almost immediately. Even if he didn't die down there, the amount of time it would take to get him back would cause him to emerge in the dead of night. And if he did that, he'd _be _dead before morning came.

_Fire first. Then other problems._ Making sure to memorize the location of the mouth, he ventured deeper into the graveyard in search of materials to get him through the darkness.

* * *

><p>The dusk came quickly. Not even an hour later, the blanket of inky half-light had descended in full force. It wouldn't be long before everything was pitch black. Thankfully Wilson had managed to scrape together enough dead leaves and sticks to make a very modest fire. It was so small that he couldn't risk going to sleep lest it burn out, but at the very least it would keep the creatures that lurked in the dark away.<p>

The camp he'd made was located right next to the mouth that had put him here. He wasn't about to dismiss the possibility of using it to get home. Now all he could do was wait.

Which gave him time to focus on his other issue.

The hustle and bustle of guiding the pigs back home had caused him to miss breakfast. He hadn't minded that much at the time, but seeing as he'd had nothing else to eat all day it was starting to get to him.

"You'll be fine." He said to himself out loud in an attempt to fight off the ever present quiet. "The human body can go for over a week without food. One day won't kill you."

Despite the sound logic of his argument, his stomach refused to be ignored. It grumbled and groaned, sounding deafening in comparison to the surrounding area.

With a sigh, Wilson resigned himself to what would no doubt be a miserable night. It wasn't like he had anything edible with him anyway, and the only growing items around here were the strange green mushrooms that seemed to sprout out of some of the graves.

As time went on, he found his eyes drawn more and more to those mushrooms. He remembered the time he'd been visiting a fellow scientist during his days in the university. The details of their conversation were lost to time, but he vividly recalled the dinner they'd shared. The man's wife had made an excellent mushroom stew. Thick and hearty, steaming with freshness, just the right amount of spices… Truly it had been a work of culinary art.

What he wouldn't give for a bowl of that right now.

His mouth watered just thinking about the savory aroma of the stew, bringing him back to the problem at hand. Eyeing the green mushrooms once more, a slightly mad idea formed in his mind.

Maybe he could risk one or two. He knew full well that mushrooms made for an important part in several filling recipes. Surely just a couple couldn't hurt…

Violently shaking his head to dispel the thoughts, he snatched back his hand which had unconsciously started edging towards one of the growing fungi.

What was he doing!? He was a scientist, not a moron. Mushrooms had a tendency of being highly poisonous. Even if it didn't kill him right away, he wasn't exactly near anyone who could help him. Poisoning himself now would be a surefire way to join the unfortunate souls that were buried all around him.

His stomach protested loudly in the face of his logic.

Growling in frustration, Wilson placed a hand on his forehead. His body was going to drive him insane at this rate. Thinking back to his brief dabblings in the world of botany, he tried to think of the proper way to identify a toxic plant.

The mushroom wasn't brightly colored so that could be a good sign. He knew that most of nature used bright colors as a warning to potential predators. Leaning closer, he found that there was no unusual smell coming from them either. It was musky and damp, but other than that it seemed like a fairly ordinary mushroom.

The only other signs he could look for were touch and taste. Neither of which were very appealing with the possibility of it being poisonous.

With a cautious hand, Wilson gently plucked one of them off its stalk. No horrific burning sensation shot up his arm. His fingers didn't shrivel up and fall off. No outwards signs of ill intent. Good so far. He held the green cap lightly for several minutes, alert to any odd feelings that might develop.

When nothing happened, he prepared for the next step.

_I should probably cook this shouldn't I? I don't think you're supposed to eat these raw._ Looking over at his pitiful fire, Wilson noted that cooking the mushroom would likely take an age and a half. It was the safe thing to do, but his stomach didn't have the patience for safe.

_I should be fine if I do this properly. Just a little taste to ensure nothing bad will happen. If I feel anything wrong, I won't touch them again._

With a deep breath, he broke off a tiny sliver of the mushroom and popped it into his mouth.


	11. Mad as a hatter

**And just when I'd said that delays like this wouldn't be a regular thing too. Anyway, sorry for the wait. With the final couple weeks of the school semester coming up, final projects being assigned, tests studied for, and work hours added, things are getting kind of hectic around here. If I suddenly disappear again, that's why. Still, I shouldn't miss more than a week in a row. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

* * *

><p>The scene taking place at the wormhole was a sight to behold. Pigs frantically dug away at the dirt surrounding the giant maw while one young woman stood above them, giving orders like a true overseer.<p>

"Dig faster! Come on; put your backs into it! We're not stopping until that stupid thing gives Wilson back!"

Willow had rallied the pigs like a miniature army, all to wage war on the hole in the ground that had eaten her friend. It was slow work. Even though they'd been digging through the night around a large fire, very little progress had been made. It probably would have been easier if they had more than one shovel aside from the one Wilson had taken. Unfortunately they didn't, and pig-man hooves were not very good at digging thanks to their posture. It was hard to dig a hole when you couldn't even touch your toes while sitting down.

Through it all, the wormhole resisted them with the power of total apathy. It mocked their puny efforts by simply not reacting in the slightest as they churned the earth around it.

Willow kicked a clod of dirt in frustration. She knew how dangerous this place was, that they might all die at one point or another, but to fall into a giant worm? Really? That wasn't tragic, that was just annoying! Honestly. If that scientist thought he could go and die in such a ridiculous manner, she'd have to come up with a fitting punishment. She'd think of what later, but right now she had something else to check on. After all, he had help when he fell.

The fire starter made her way over to Wendy, who was carefully examining the ground where the shadowy hand had taken shape.

"See anything?"

The girl's frown of concentration left her face for a brief moment as she considered the question.

"Nothing physical." She said after a pause. "But I can feel something distinctly _other_ about the area."

"Could you say that again in English?" Willow asked, raising an eyebrow. Wendy's sensitivity to the supernatural made her an excellent warning against possible dangers, but her unique vocabulary made getting any kind of information out of her a real pain.

The child seemed unperturbed by her lack of understanding.

"There is a presence here that is not based in our world." She said, somehow managing to make the explanation even more cryptic than the original. "It is like someone willed the shadow into existence for the sole purpose of pushing Wilson into the hole."

That she could understand. This hadn't been some random accident. It was an active attempt to harm them, and she was willing to bet she knew exactly who was behind it.

Before the two of them could continue the conversation, Wolfgang ran up to them.

"Fire lady! Come quickly! Giant mouth man is shaking!" One look at his face was enough to assure Willow that he wasn't simply being dramatic. Gripping her lighter and preparing for a confrontation, she followed the strongman back to where the wormhole lay mostly buried. Wendy and Abigail came up behind her as she made her way to the opening.

Sure enough, it was shaking badly. The pigs had retreated to a safe distance, eyeing with a general air of uncertainty. It was vibrating so strongly that the loosened dirt around it was being thrown up in a miniature dust storm.

"Get ready!" Willow ordered, not entirely sure what she wanted them to be ready for. Regardless, the assorted humans, pigs, and the single ghost formed a circle around their target. It was then that she noticed a peculiar sound coming from inside the wormhole.

"Is that… screaming…?

With a mighty heave, the giant mouth spat out the object that had caused the disturbance. Every pair of eyes watched transfixed as the yelling bundle launched into the air only to come crashing down to the ground with a wet splat. A second, smaller, package quickly followed the first, hitting the earth right next to the first.

For a moment, nobody moved. They all stared intently at the saliva-covered pile of tangled limbs lying in a heap. Two fists shot up into the air, prompting the onlookers to jump back in surprise.

"Woah! That is so much more intense when you're awake!" Wilson shouted, jumping to his feet. His hair and cloths were all but ruined by the slime from the worm, but a giant, almost demented, smile was plastered on his face.

"Wilson?" Willow ventured, not sure what to make of his sudden reappearance. "What happened to you?"

He turned at the sound of her voice. Upon seeing her, as impossible as it may have seemed, his smile grew even larger.

"Willow!" He cried, quickly making his way over to her. "Oh, it's so good to see you! How long has it been huh? Six, maybe seven hours? I missed you! Come here!" Sensing what was about to happen, the young woman quickly raised her hands up in a vain attempt to ward him off.

"No! No! Don't you dare! Wilson! I'm warning you! Don't even think about- _GAH!_"

Her protests were cut off as he threw his arms around her in a tight, and very slimy, hug. She was unable to do more than twitch as the trauma from suddenly being smothered in worm ooze shattered any amount of conscious thought she might have had.

Either not noticing or just ignoring the horrorstruck expression on her face, the scientist quickly turned to his other companions.

"Wendy! How's my favorite little demon child? You know, I just found this lovely little graveyard! I'll have to take you there sometime." The words poured out of his mouth in a rush as he landed a hearty pat on her head. He gave her blonde locks a quick one handed rustling before turning to Wolfgang. The girl slowly reached up to touch the mess of goo in her hair, her mouth forming a thin line as she glared daggers into the back of Wilson's head.

"Wolfy!" He exclaimed exuberantly. "My man! I've been feeling pretty antsy recently. What's say you and me go for a few rounds in the ring, huh?" At this he dropped his stance, throwing a few mock boxing punches towards the other man.

"Science man wants to fight me?" Wolfgang asked, thoroughly lost. This caused the scientist to convulse in a fit of laughter. He doubled over, holding his knees to prevent himself from falling on his face.

"That's a good one Wolfy." He chuckled, eventually getting himself under control. "I didn't know you were such a comedian!" He gave Wolfgang a friendly jab in the chest, leaving a wet splotch on the very confused man's shirt.

"_WILSON!"_ The enraged scream tore itself out of Willow's throat the moment she'd recovered enough to speak. Any relief at seeing him alive was drowned out by his total lack of respect for the well-being of her clothes. His face lit up once more as his attention returned to her.

"Willo-"

"_Don't you dare!"_ She warned, the venom in her tone cutting him off mid-sentence. And midstride for that matter. His right foot remained in midair as he balanced precariously on the other. "If you cover me in sludge again I'll force-feed you to that filthy worm in pieces!"

His head cocked curiously to one side, and for an instant it looked like he was seriously considering following through on the gesture anyway. Before he could act on the impulse however, he suddenly snapped his gaze to the second object that had been thrown out of the wormhole.

"Oh! I almost forgot about that." Wilson scooped up the object which turned out to be Wolfgang's pack. Or what was left of it. The grass-woven object looked to be on its last legs, though it sagged under the weight of its contents.

"Minions! Assemble!" He shouted, his voice going from jovial to authoritative in the blink of an eye. It took several confused seconds before the pigs realized he was talking to them. "I said _ASSEMBLE!_"

The pig-men nearly ran each other over as they hastily sprinted to obey his order. They formed a disorganized mob in front of him while he marched forwards like some kind of military drill instructor. At his iron gaze they did a hasty salute, some moving so quickly that they managed to brain themselves by accident.

"Listen up!" Wilson's voice echoed through the now-silent masses. "The construction of my lair must be recommenced at once! I have a big project I'm going to be working on, and it is vital to the completion of my plans. Understand? Good. Forward march!"

Willow watched in disbelief as he proceeded to parade the gaggle of pig-men back towards their camp. It wasn't until they had disappeared from sight that Wendy got her attention.

"I still have my ax stashed back home." She commented, her voice holding a tinge of carefully restrained anger while slime dripped from her hair. "Say the word and he'll be dead by morning."

It was a very tempting offer.

"Not yet." Willow said, pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "Let's go see just what the heck he's doing before we take action."

"Fire lady?" Wolfgang ventured. "Is science man broken?"

She sighed heavily and recomposed herself to face him again.

"Not yet." She assured, heading after the newly deranged man. "But he will be if he doesn't have a _very _good explanation for what just happened."

* * *

><p>Wilson's new persona apparently doubled as a slave driver. The moment they'd all returned to camp, he'd set the pigs to work on finishing his laboratory. His relentless commands could be heard for miles around as he ran to and fro, urging them onwards with half thought out remarks that often left them more confused than motivated. Still, he got results. Not even four hours later, the structure which they had expected to spend several days on was complete.<p>

As the last part of the ceiling had been finished, the hoard of unfortunate pigs collapsed in a panting and snorting heap on the ground. Their plight went unnoticed by their new master.

No sooner had the final touches been put into place than he disappeared inside, shutting the doors and demanding that nobody bothered him while he was working. He took Wolfgang's pack, several crafting materials, and even an armful of bunnies with him giving no explanation as to why he needed them.

For Willow, this was the last straw.

Struggling to resist the urge to start pulling out her lighter, the young woman started towards the workshop. She'd been more than a little annoyed by the way he was acting, but she'd been willing to give him a chance to explain. His sudden obsession with finishing his work area instead of their living quarters had been less forgivable. Still, she'd waited patiently to give him a chance to justify his actions. But did he do that? No. She was going to get some answers even if she had to break both his legs and tie him to a tree.

As she got closer, the sound of Wilson's voice could be heard from inside the building.

"Yes, yes. Red goes there. Hmmm… now how do those two fit together? Red won't work… neither will blue… purple maybe? How do I make purple again?"

She made her way to the door until she was standing level with it. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she started hammering on the barrier.

"Wilson!" She called, her tone firm and uncompromising. "Open this door right now! You and I need to have a talk."

The sound of something heavy being dropped answered her. It was quickly followed by a yelp of pain and quite a few very colorful curses, only a couple of which were in English. Several crashes later, the door slowly inched open. It progressed until the scientist had just enough room to peek his head out.

"What is it?" He demanded, looking thoroughly cross. "Can't you see I'm busy scienceing in here?"

"Scienceing?" Willow questioned, raising an eyebrow. "That's not even a word."

"It is now!" He shot back. "And it will forever be used as a word to describe my greatness. From this day forth it shall forever be engraved into all dictionaries everywhere."

She snapped her fingers in front of his face in order to keep his attention. He'd been starting to get that far off look in his eyes that meant he wasn't paying attention anymore. It had the desired effect. Blinking several times at the gesture, he turned to face her again.

"Wilson, we need to talk." She stated. When he opened his mouth to respond she cut him off, already knowing what he was about to say. "I know we're talking right now! I mean _talk _talk. Your little psycho act is trying everyone's patience."

He leaned out slightly more, just enough to fit an arm through so that he could raise it to his chin in a ponderous expression.

"Losing patience you say?" He questioned, tapping a finger against his cheek. "Well I suppose you lot _do _deserve some form of compensation. Tell you what, come back tomorrow and I'll have something real special waiting just for you. See you then!"

"Wilson, wait! Don't-"

Not giving her a chance to get a word in edgewise, he quickly shut the door in her face. Her scream of frustration was only partially drowned out by the sound of her beating on the wooden obstacle.

"Wilson! You open that door right now! I swear you'll be sorry if you don't! I'll burn it down if I have to!"

Infuriatingly enough, he gave no sign that he heard her. The only sound that she could hear from inside the workshop was a few clangs of objects being moved around and some very off-tune humming.

Her first instinct was to whip out the lighter and burn the whole thing to the ground with him inside. This was only held back by the fact that they'd gone through so much trouble to get the logs in the first place that just wasting them like that would be a real shame.

The second option was to take Wendy up on her offer, but Willow doubted that she had been serious in making it. Or at least, that's what she hoped. It was hard to tell with that girl sometimes.

The only alternative, other than destroying the door altogether, was to wait him out. She knew full well that he didn't have any food in there so he'd have to come out sooner or later. Fine. That would be how they played it. She'd just stay right here until he had no choice by to open the door again.

Determined not to let the mad scientist get the better of her, she sat down against the wall of the workshop. All she had to do was wait.

* * *

><p>The warmth of the morning sunlight was what woke Willow from her fitful sleep. She'd stayed the night outside the doorway, refusing to budge in case he tried to sneak a midnight snack. Her lighter remained firmly gripped in her hand, its light having formed a tiny barrier against the darkness that had been encroaching.<p>

With a groan, she pulled herself into a standing position. He'd been in there all day and all night. Just what could be so important as to make him act this way? She didn't know, but she was done waiting.

A quick glance around the campsite told her that the others were all still asleep. Wendy lay curled up beneath Abigail's hovering form. The ghost wasn't really asleep, but the way she hovered gently in place gave the impression that she was either resting or just zoned out for the night.

Wolfgang was using one of the pig-men as a pillow. He seemed to fit right in with the sprawling mass of best men, their combined snoring making a dreadful racket that she'd have had a hard time ignoring if she hadn't been used to it by now.

That just left Wilson. The fire starter carefully placed her ear to the doorway, straining to detect even the slightest hints of life coming from inside.

Silence.

Frowning, she started reaching for the wooden doorknob. Was he still sleeping also? For some reason she doubted this. The crazed energy he'd displayed the day before didn't seem like the kind that would just vanish all of a sudden.

As her hand turned the handle she was surprised to find that it turned without the slightest resistance. At some point during the night, it had been unlocked.

Pushing the door open, she took a slow step inside.

"Wilson?" She ventured, squinting into the darkened room. "Are you awake in here?"

A groan sounded from the middle of the space, and a prone figure began to rise up. The scientist looked dreadful. His hair was even messier than before, and the expression on his face made it look like he was suffering a hangover despite the distinct lack of alcohol.

"Wilson!" Her earlier annoyance was somewhat abated at seeing him like this. "Are you all right? How did you… what the…"

Her question drifted off as she noticed the other objects inside the workshop. Seeing the look on her face, he followed her eyes until he spotted them as well. For the span of several breaths, neither of them made a sound.

"Willow?" He asked at last, the confusion clear in his voice. "Where did I go last night?"


	12. Fruits of insanity

**I'd like to take this opportunity to say that I'm going to have to change a couple of things from the game. Since some of the Don't Starve mechanics don't translate well into writing, I'll be doing my best to make them work without breaking any rules. The biggest changes will be made in the Adventure Mode, which will be explained more fully in later chapters. Anyway, I'll do my best to remain true to the game while still keeping the writing interesting.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

* * *

><p>Wilson had often heard others talk in fear, and sometimes anticipation, of waking up one morning with absolutely no recollection of what had happened the night before. Sitting inside his apparently fully constructed workshop as he was now, he could hardly believe that other people regularly experienced this.<p>

Behind him, Willow, Wendy, Wolfgang, and Abigail had all crowded into the glorified shack to get a better view of his most recent exploits. He himself was just as confused as they were when looking over the scene.

A moderately sized desk had been built at some point and placed against the back wall. It was the only piece of furniture in the workshop other than a rickety chair that looked like it was held together by nothing more than woven grass. How these two pieces came into existence was a mystery, but what was even more perplexing were the objects on and around them.

Random assortments of junk were scattered all over the floor. Everything ranging from broken pieces of metal, to children's toys, to some weird looking purplish thing that smelled like rotting leather.

The objects on the table itself were far more interesting. Piled on one side of the work-space were an assortment of odd gems. They came in two colors; a bright crimson-like red, and a cool icy blue. At first Wilson believed them to be rubies and sapphires, but closer inspection led him to think otherwise. The shades of the colors were off and, if viewed out of the corner of the eye, swirling _things_ could be seen moving inside them.

As peculiar as the gems themselves were, it was the items in the center of the table that held their collective attentions with such disturbed awe. Four devices were lovingly arranged next to each other with an almost obsessive care to ensure that they were all placed at exact intervals of distance. Each one had a tiny note attached, torn from his notebook and written with a twitchy, ungainly, hand.

The first was a walking stick. At least, he assumed it was. In actuality it looked like little more than a red gem tied to the end of a long stick. While the object itself was uninspiring, the not attached left him very intrigued and more than a bit frightened by it.

_Dearest Willow_

_It has come to my attention that you haven't been allowed to indulge your pyromania to its fullest potential. This is unjust, unhelpful, and thoroughly unright. With this device, I hope to rectify this mistake. The staff will allow you to spread the joy of total immolation with the rest of the world from a safe distance. _

_Keep that fire burning_

_-Wilson_

The second object was much smaller and much shinier. It appeared to be a necklace shaped out of bent scraps of metal that had been fixed together. Like the staff, it held a red gem at its heart and had a strange note attached to it.

_To the most esteemed Sir Wolfgang _

_Having seen you fight first hand has left me in no doubt as to your physical capabilities, but I must say that your psychological strength is in need of some help. Thankfully my genius will fix that. I give you the solution to all of your fears; the life amulet! After all, what is there to be afraid of if death can't touch you?_

_Hugs and kisses_

_-Wilson_

The third was perhaps the most intricate of the creations. It resembled a radio on a long rod with dials that were permanently fixed halfway between the labels of 'daytime television' and 'pure evil'. What was the most interesting about it was the fact that it somehow managed to emit a low frequency sound every now and then despite having no obvious source of power. For whatever reason, its note was addressed to Wendy.

_Young miss Wendy_

_Your relationship with your departed sister is both heartwarming and bone-chilling in equal measure. I must say that I've seen many other siblings torn asunder over lesser issues than a violent end. Since you have shown such an aptitude for speaking with the spirits, I believe you will appreciate this. Remember, just because the voices aren't real doesn't mean they don't have good advice. _

_I hid your ax_

_-Wilson_

The fourth and final of the oddities wasn't a new device, but rather was a modified version of something Wilson knew all too well. It was his knife. The very same knife that he'd kept on his person ever since being drawn into this world by his own insatiable curiosity. The only difference was the fact that there was a strangely dark purple gem embedded into the handle right where the blade connected. It showed no signs of welding and gave no clues as to how it had been inserted. Unlike the other pieces, the note attached to it was only two words.

_Payback time_

So far, nobody had gone near them. They'd all been silently waiting for Wilson to answer the question that was on everybody's mind. Sadly, it was one he had no idea how to explain. Ever the direct one, Wolfgang decided he'd had enough of waiting.

"What happen to science man?" He questioned, shifting his gaze back and forth between the table and Wilson. "How did you make things after being eaten by dirt mouth?"

The scientist rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. He knew full well that they wouldn't approve of what he'd gone and done.

"Funny you should ask…" He began, pointedly avoiding looking any of them in the eye. "After I fell into the worm… mouth… thing. Whatever it was. I woke up in a graveyard. I can only assume that it spat me out there. The one near us must be connected to the other one somehow."

"Hold on, a _graveyard?_" Willow asked, giving him a pointed look. "As in, a bunch of dead people buried all over the place graveyard? Are you telling me that we're not the only ones who've been trapped here?"

Wilson simply shrugged in response. It was something he recalled wondering also, but he couldn't be sure if there were actual people buried inside them.

"Anyway, after waking up I wasn't too keen on trying to go back through the worm." He went on. "I set up a little camp nearby. There wasn't much in the way of building a fire, but there were enough shrubs and pieces of flammable material that I managed to hold out for the night. Of course, there was still the problem of finding something to eat in the meantime…"

He had to pause before going on. There was no way to explain what happened next without making himself look like a total fool.

"There wasn't a whole lot around, but there were a few strangely colored mushrooms growing on the graves."

It took several seconds for the meaning of his words to sink in. When they did, Willow's face instantly met her palm with a noise of exasperation.

"You didn't!" She exclaimed, shaking her head. "What made you think eating mushrooms you found growing on _rotting corpses_ was a good idea!?"

In what was likely a wise move, Wilson decided to remain silent. He didn't fully understand what his motivations at the time had been either. Looking back, it was obvious how stupid a decision it was to try eating the fungus. Yet in the heat of the moment, it had seemed like a calculated, almost reasonable, risk to take. It was as if the hauntingly isolated atmosphere of the graveyard had infected his mind in the short time he'd been there. Maybe it had. He certainly couldn't think of a logical explanation for his actions now.

"Do you have more of these mushrooms with you?" Wendy asked curiously. They all turned to look at her.

"No. At least, I don't think so." Wilson replied, trying to remember the aftermath of his artificial insanity. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I wanted to try them next."

The others stared at her in shock, even Abigail who stopped her normal flowing movements enough for her face to solidify into an expression of disbelief. Suddenly, Willow pointed an accusing finger at Wilson's chest.

"Do you see what you've done!?" She demanded. "Now you've gone and got her wanting to try it! You're going to turn her into a drug addict!"

"I-"

Before he could attempt to defend himself, Wendy spoke up again.

"It's only fair." She said indignantly. "You got to experience madness already. Now Wilson has done it. I think that I should be the next to stare into the void."

"You-"

"Is that how this works?" Wolfgang asked, suddenly growing fearful. "Please science man! I not want to go crazy! Can you fix somehow?"

"I don't-"

Wilson's words were quickly drowned out as both Wendy and Wolfgang began speaking at the same time. He could only look helplessly as the two of them tried to make their cases on the subject of going insane.

"_That's enough!"_ Willow shouted, silencing the overlapping voices. "The only person who's going to go nuts is _me_ if this keeps up!" Once they had quieted down, she turned to Wilson and flicked open her lighter.

"Do you have any of those things with you?" She demanded. "If you do, then its best you tell me right now. I won't be happy if I find out that you've been stashing them later."

He held up his hands in a plea of innocence.

"I don't think so." He said. When her eyes started to narrow, he quickly went on. "Honest! I don't remember all that much after eating one! I don't think that I brought any others with me though. I'll check in a bit to be sure though."

She still eyed him a bit suspiciously, though decided against pushing the subject. Instead, she turned to get a better look at the table and its contents.

"Do you happen to know how the heck you managed to make this stuff?" She asked. "Where did all these jewels and scraps come from?"

Wilson gave an involuntary shudder as he thought back on that. His memories were hazy at best, but he still had the general idea of what had happened for a little while after ingesting the mushroom.

"You know how I said I woke up in a graveyard?" He asked. They all nodded. "Well…" He raised a finger that trembled very slightly to point at an object that had been placed in the corner. The shovel. The darkened soil caked on its bowl was enough to tell them the story.

"You started eating mushrooms… and then decided it was a good idea to go _grave robbing?_" Willow groaned, holding her head in her hands. Wolfgang looked positively mortified at the thought of digging up graves, and Wendy was shooting him a glare of genuine anger.

"I wasn't exactly in my right mind." Wilson defended. "It's not like I just thought 'hey why don't I start disturbing the dead?' It was out of my control. Though I have to say that I'm curious as to what these things were doing inside them."

Stepping over to the table, Willow took a closer look at the arrangement of his creations. She reached out towards the staff, hesitating momentarily before lifting it up. It was about three fourths her height, the gem resting level with her shoulder.

"Well, I'm not sure how this thing is supposed to help with igniting stuff but it does look nice." She commented. "How did you manage to cut the wood so straight?"

Wilson only shrugged in response. The manner in which he'd made these items, like much of what he'd done last night, were lost to the depths of his memory.

When nothing horrific happened to Willow upon picking up her new gilded walking stick, Wendy and Wolfgang drew closer to take a look at their generously made gifts. The strong man dangled his necklace up while giving it a thoughtful look. After a moment, a wide smile broke out on his face.

"Is like medal!" He proclaimed, placing it around his neck and proudly displaying it to the others. "Is mark me as mightiest of men!"

"That it does." Wilson agreed, chuckling. At least his little outing had made someone happy. "Just don't go testing the whole 'death can't touch you' thing. I don't trust the advice that crazy me gave."

Wendy was frowning as she looked over her radio on a stick. She tried adjusting the knobs, but they refused to budge. After a moment, she put the device up to her ear in an attempt to better understand what the noise coming from it was supposed to mean.

Thinking back to the note that had been left with it, Wilson was struck by a sudden thought.

"Do you hear anything?" He asked. "Like voices maybe? Something useful?"

She fixed him with a deadpan and entirely serious stare.

"Yes Wilson. I'm hearing voices in the box." She said, her voice coming out in an eerie monotone. "They're telling me to wait until you all fall asleep tonight, and then to slit your throats so that they can possess your bodies."

They all looked warily at her, highly disturbed by her manner.

"…Really…?"

"No. Not really." She assured, rolling her eyes. "It is just making the same blank noise over and over again. You've created a sonic metronome."

"Uh… right. Right. I knew you were kidding." He said, failing to hide the slight nervous edge in his voice. "Anyway, I've got a real headache after last night. If things are sorted out around here, I think I'm gonna go get a bit more shuteye to make up for what I've missed out on."

"Oh no you don't!" Willow said, grabbing his arm as he tried to move past her. "Temporary insanity or not, you got all the pigs to build your little workshop last night instead of our cabin. You're not getting a nap until you've finished up our home."

He gaped openmouthed at her.

"How the heck am I supposed to do that?" He asked, shocked that she would make such an unreasonable demand. "It's not even halfway done! It'll take days to finish even if we work around the clock!"

Her gaze was pitiless.

"You managed to finish up this place in an afternoon." She countered. "Just do what you did here. After there's a roof over our heads, you can take all the naps you want."

He stammered for something to say, settling on a groan when he realized that she wasn't about to change her mind. He couldn't help but feel like she was punishing him for something he'd done, and not just the whole workshop dispute.

One thing was for sure, he was never eating mushrooms again.

* * *

><p>Wendy spent the better part of her day wandering the edges of their campsite. The adults and the pigs had all gone to work finishing up their cabin. It certainly didn't look like the most impressive structure, but it would hopefully be a dry place to sleep in the night.<p>

Of course, the downside to their labor was that she was left on her own. With only Abigail to keep her company, she'd ended up mostly meandering her way around while staying out of the way. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate her sister's presence, she didn't know what she would do without her, but conversations were slightly more enjoyable when the person you were speaking to could talk back.

"Do you think anyone has noticed that we're missing?" Wendy asked, leaning on the radio pole. "We've been gone for some time now. Will they have people looking for us back home?"

Her ghostly sister replied with a lilting whisper. She could only assume that it was meant to be a reassuring noise. Not that she particularly needed reassuring. Some part of her didn't really see the appeal in returning home. She knew full well that Abigail wouldn't be able to stay with her in the normal world, and there was nobody waiting for her that she was particularly attached to. Wilson, Wolfgang, and Willow were the first people that she'd actually come to think of as friends other than her sister. Maybe one of them would be able to take her in when this was over. It was a pleasant thought, however unlikely.

Falling into a comfortable silence, Wendy cast a glance over at the slowly building house of logs. The pigs weren't in the same construction frenzy that had swept them up yesterday, but they progressed at a reasonable pace. They wouldn't have a home tonight but they were getting there.

Wolfgang was carrying a sizable log over one shoulder, with Wilson standing behind him and directing where he needed to go. The scientist must have said something because Wolfgang turned to reply, not thinking about the consequences of such an action. The log he carried smacked Wilson full in the face. The scientist was sent sprawling, landing directly in what was either a small mud puddle, or something left behind by one of the pigs that hadn't made it to the edge of the clearing in time.

Wolfgang, realizing what had just happened, quickly shoved the log into a nearby pig's arms. He then made a point of helping Wilson to his feet as though he could possibly pass of blame for the accident. Wendy shook her head, silently laughing at the dysfunctional group she'd become part of.

As she leaned back and tilted the radio away from camp, something strange caught her attention. The sound it emitted suddenly became slightly higher pitched.

"Did you hear that?" She asked, turning to Abigail. The ghost's form rippled as she nodded.

Regarding the device more carefully, Wendy started experimenting to see if it had just been a trick of the moment.

She positioned the radio back in its initial position. After a couple seconds of silence, it let out the same droning moan that it had been making all day. She then took several steps forward and planted it firmly in the ground. This time when the sound came it was a subtle but noticeably higher pitch.

Wendy frowned, trying to make sense of what the noise could mean. The rush of understanding hit her like a bolt of lightning.

Ripping the device out of the ground, she dashed back towards the camp. The others had to hear about this.


	13. Into the breach

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

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><p>Wolfgang grunted as he hoisted up the next log that needed to be placed. It was too large for an average person to lift alone, but he was hardly an average person. The former chunk of tree was gradually inched higher as he got ready to set it in place on the eastern wall of what would soon be their home. He had to hold it above his head like a set of weights, his arms trembling slightly as he strained against the bulky object.<p>

A small figure rushed past, nearly bumping into him and causing the log to tip precariously to one side. Thankfully, Wolfgang was able to correct it quickly enough. Turning his head to see the cause of the disturbance, he caught sight of Wendy dashing towards where Willow and Wilson were sitting.

Before he could speculate as to why she was in such a hurry, Abigail blew by him. The ghost's unexpected presence caused him to jump with a yelp. An action which had the unfortunate side effect of causing him to lose his grip on the log. Wolfgang instinctively dove to one side; narrowly avoiding being squashed as the weighty piece of lumber came crashing down.

Freed from his grasp, the log began to roll thanks to the moderate incline of the campsite. It was slow at first but soon picked up speed as it headed directly for a group of pigs that had been scrounging through one of the chests Wilson had built to store their less perishable food items.

"Uh oh…" The strongman could only look on helplessly, not thinking to shout a warning until it was far too late to make a difference.

One of the pigs must have heard the sound of the log rolling because it looked up with a blank expression on its face. Realization hit the pig-man just in time for it to let out a panicked squeal that alerted the others to the danger. They all turned to see what the matter was, only to add their own frantic shouts to the noise when they noticed the impending catastrophe.

The log hit them like a bowling ball, sending pigs, splinters, and the splattered contents of the chest flying in all directions. Wolfgang winced as everything came crashing down in a heap at the base of the incline.

Casting a worried glance over his shoulder, he spotted Willow, Wilson, and Wendy looking back to try and see what all the ruckus was about.

"Is fine!" Wolfgang called over to them, doing his best to keep a straight face. "No need for worry! Just… uh… playing catch with piggy-men is all! There is no problem here!"

It should be fine. Several of the fallen pigs were twitching. Hopefully that implied that they were still at least partially alive.

They gave him a strange look but didn't do more than that. Much to his relief, Wilson gestured him over to see what Wendy had been in such a rush to tell them about.

Wolfgang headed over quickly, sparing a frown at Abigail who hardly seemed to notice. When he got up closer, he saw that Wendy was holding the same radio stick thing that she'd been given earlier.

"All right." Wilson said. "Everyone's here now. What were you saying?"

In response, Wendy held out the radio.

"I believe I've discovered the purpose of this device." She stated. "I was at the edge of camp when it started making strange noises. When I studied the pattern, I found that it would switch to a higher pitch upon heading too far in one direction. If I brought it back again the dull tone would return. Do you know what that means?"

The scientist put on a thoughtful expression before shrugging his shoulders.

"Not really." He admitted. "Maybe it just doesn't want to be near us?"

Wendy answered by jabbing him in the stomach with one of the antennas. The annoyed look on her face told them that she believed this to be a serious matter.

"What it means, is that this is a divining rod!" She said, pointedly thrusting the device forwards.

"Stick is divine?" Wolfgang questioned. "Can it grant wishes like genie? Or does it need praying? I not know how to pray to talking box."

For reasons he couldn't understand Willow began snickering at his questions while Wilson blew out a small sigh.

"She said _divining_ rod, not divine rod." He explained patiently. "A divining rod is a device that is typically used to find something, though I'm not sure that changes in noise would automatically make this one. What makes you think that it's trying to lead us anywhere?"

Wendy frowned. She apparently believed the answer to be obvious, and wasn't pleased by the lack of understanding from her companions.

"Think about it Wilson." She said. "How did it come into being? You were pushed into a gaping mouth in the ground by a shadowy hand that could only have come from one person. Now we have a peculiar device that looks like it's trying to lead us somewhere. Does that sound like a coincidence to you?"

Any mirth in the air vanished in the blink of an eye when she brought _him_ up. What Wolfgang wouldn't give to get a second shot and pummeling Maxwell into submission. He'd resolved to make the deceitful little man eat his own fancy suit.

"I think that might be a bit of a jump in logic, don't you?" Wilson asked. "How do you know it isn't just reacting to something in the environment? Maybe it's some kind of fancy metal detector that is picking up mineral deposits."

"It should still be worth looking into shouldn't it?" She shot back. "For all we know, this could have been the whole reason you were pushed into the worm."

"That doesn't make any sense." Willow pointed out. "Even if his little trip into madness were planned out, how could Maxwell have known that he'd end up building that?"

Wendy didn't have an answer to that.

"Besides. If it really was something he wanted us to use, what makes you think it would be a good idea to do so? It could be a trap. Maybe it leads to the bottom of a giant chasm, or into a dark cave filled with monsters. He hasn't exactly shown any concern for our wellbeing so far."

The girl turned to her sister, the two of them sharing a dejected look. She opened her mouth to push the issue further, but Wolfgang spoke up before she could.

"I say we check." He said. The others all looked up in surprise. It was the last thing they'd expected from the normally timid man.

"Uh… Wolfgang? Are you sure that's-" Wilson's attempt to change his mind was cut off.

"She is make good point, yes?" Wolfgang questioned. "If spooky man is give this to us, it might lead to him. I say we go. If monsters in way, I smash them!"

Maybe it was the thought of finding Maxwell again that filled him with a sudden desire to press onward, maybe it was the medal that hung around his neck that made him feel so confident, or maybe it was the simple desire to get them as far away from the camp as possible so that they didn't notice the mess before the pigs had a chance to get back up. Regardless of the cause, he felt that this was the correct decision.

Wilson and Willow both looked like they wanted to protest, but couldn't quite find the right words. Eventually, the fire starter turned to look at the device once more.

"I don't like the sound of this." She said flatly. "But you might have some kind of a point. If, by some freakish chance, he _was_ the one behind this whole thing it might pay to play along for a little bit. I hate the idea of just going along path he'd have set, but I don't see any other way around it. It's not like we're going to get home by sitting here."

Wilson looked back at their half-constructed cabin longingly. He really did want to finish it as soon as possible, but perhaps a slight detour in order to get to the bottom of this could pay off…

"I suppose that checking where the noise is coming from couldn't hurt as long as we're careful." He conceded at last. "Just… give me a bit to get ready. We should all take some supplies with us if we go. There's no telling how long a trek this will be. It would be nice to have the pigs finish up building while we're gone, but I don't think they'll be able to stay focused long enough to do that."

With that, the four of them agreed to take half an hour to gather all the things they thought they'd need. Depending on how far away their target was, this could be anything from an afternoon hike to a multi-day journey. That wasn't too big an issue though. They had all the time in the world.

There was just one small hitch that got in the way.

"Hey Wolfgang!" At the sound of Wilson calling his name, the strongman looked over with a sinking feeling to see him standing with his hands on his hips.

"Would you mind explaining to me why my chest of food is lying in a mound of pigs and wood shrapnel?"

* * *

><p>A loud squelch echoed throughout the swamp as Wolfgang's hammer flattened another giant mosquito. This must have been the hundredth of the oversized bugs he'd dealt with, and he had the timing of his swing down perfectly at this point.<p>

Wendy, perched atop his shoulders to avoid sinking in the muck, didn't so much as twitch as the insect was bashed. Her attention was entirely focused on listening to the subtle changes in tone from the divining rod.

After they'd agreed on following the noise, the group had stocked up on enough food to last them for several days. Other than the basic necessities, Willow had taken her lighter, her staff, and a few building materials that could be made into a torch, or possibly kindling to create a larger fire.

Wilson had opted for a more scientific rout, focusing on bringing notes, his writing utensils, and the knife he always kept on his person. He'd tried to keep a record of when the pitch of the radio changed, but the damp environment they found themselves in made that exceptionally difficult.

Wolfgang was armed with his trusty hammer and the medal he'd been gifted. He was the only one currently in high spirits. The scientist and the fire starter were both miserable from walking around in the swamp, and the child on his shoulders bore the same grim expression she usually had. For him though, the slime and sludge was of little concern. If nothing else, it kept his feet warm. A little itchy and a bit tingly perhaps, but warm none the less.

Wendy had only been armed with the radio and her sister's presence. Crazy Wilson hadn't been kidding when he said he hid her ax. After turning the campsite upside down searching for it, she'd finally just given up. She hadn't spoken once to the scientist since then.

A loud buzzing signaled the arrival of another mosquito. Wolfgang waited until the blood sucking insect charged him, carefully observing its flight pattern and erratic movements. Once it darted in to try and bite he swung in a wide arc, his hammer sending the overzealous creature splattering into the grimy water in pieces.

Willow shuddered, though whether it was from the sight of the bug or the constant touch of the swamp was hard to tell.

"We'd better be getting close." She said, leaning heavily on her staff as a means to be in contact with as little of the water as possible. "I think I'm going to die from infection before morning otherwise."

They'd spent the better part of the morning and afternoon searching, pausing only once during midday to have a meal.

"Swamp not so bad." Wolfgang replied, doing his best to improve her mood. "Is like walking in giant soggy cake!" Somehow, his analogy didn't seem to work all that well.

Without warning, the divining rod switched from a grating drone to an obnoxiously loud blaring sound. The strongman felt Wendy tense up on his shoulders at the noise.

"We're getting close!" She warned, barely audible over the siren.

Wolfgang unconsciously increased his pace as the wail continued to get more and more intense. Behind him, Willow and Wilson struggled to push through the grime and keep up. Their lack of size and muscle made the task several times more difficult for them than it was for him.

"Wolfgang! Slow down!" Wilson shouted. "Don't get so far ahead! You remember what happened the last time that happened don't you?"

Reluctantly, he slowed enough for the two stragglers to close the gap. He was eager to see what was waiting for them at the end of this path, and any delay only served to compound his growing impatience. It didn't help that the divining rod was echoing through his head constantly, giving him a massive headache.

"Science man and fire lady need keep up!" He declared, sticking his hammer in his belt and grabbing both of their arms. "I help!"

Before either of them had time to realize what was about to happen, the strongman lurched forwards pushing through the muck like a bulldozer. Wilson and Willow were dragged along with him, barely able to keep their footing as he yanked them forward at a rapid pace.

"Hold on! Stop! You're going to-"

Wilson's protests were silenced as his foot got caught on a submerged root. The scientist tripped and fell face first into the putrid sludge, his shout turning to a retching gag as he hit. Wolfgang didn't so much as pause. He continued driving forwards, dragging the unfortunate man along while the girl on his shoulders directed his path. Willow barely managed to avoid a similar fate. Deciding that ruining her skirt was preferable to being submerged; she stopped trying to keep it out of the water and instead focused entirely on staying upright.

As suddenly as it had started, the noise from the radio shut off. A ringing silence descended in its place, sounding deafening in the dimly lit swamp. Having nothing to guide him forwards Wolfgang came to a halt, looking around curiously.

"Why is talk box stop talking?" He questioned.

Wilson broke the surface of the water with a strangled gasp, alternating between sucking in air and spitting out swamp muck in equal measure. When he recovered enough to speak, he turned to his tormentor with a glare.

"What is wrong with you!?" He demanded. "You nearly killed me! Do you have any idea how hard it is to breathe when someone is pulling you through a wall of sludge?"

Wolfgang didn't look the least bit concerned at his outburst.

"Science man take too long." He repeated, as though that simple statement justified the whole thing. "If had more muscle, wouldn't have to worry about falling."

The scientist was about to make a scathing remark about how little muscular development helped the growth of one's mind, but Willow took that opportunity to step in and prevent any conflicts.

"Can we get back on topic for a moment?" She asked. "In case the two of you didn't notice, our little guide stopped making noise. Someone please tell me that you remember the way we came from, because I do _NOT _want to be lost in this place."

"We're not lost." Wendy commented calmly. "We're here."

The others all looked to her with a questioning glance until Abigail, who had been following their whole trek from above, floated down. The ghostly light she gave off illuminated an object that had previously been hidden in the darkness.

Another bout of silence, this one out of dread filled awe, filled the air. The wooden structure was one all of them recognized.

Wilson slowly got to his feet, absentmindedly brushing some of the grime off his person while he stared at the massive doorway. He still vividly remembered the day he'd built an identical one in his lab back home.

Wendy tapped lightly on Wolfgang's shoulder, prompting him to lift her off his shoulders and set her down. The swamp was significantly shallower next to the doorway, allowing her to stand without sinking.

"I guess that settles it." Willow said at last. "Maxwell really was behind it."

"You all recognize it too?" Wilson asked, getting nods from each of them in response. They'd each gone through the experience of being forcibly drawn into the gateway.

"What we do now?" Wolfgang questioned. He'd been eager to find the source of the noise a moment ago, but now that it was staring them in the face he began having second thoughts. "Should we open door?"

"No." Wilson's answer was immediate, and left no room for debate. "This is exactly the kind of thing that he'd want us to do. It's the same logic that got us all stuck here in the first place isn't it? No. We don't play his little game. We'll find another way to get to him that doesn't involve playing right into his hands."

"He's right." Willow said, nodding her agreement. "Rushing in blindly won't get us anywhere. We need a plan. If he has things like this set up, we might be able to find something else that we can use against him."

It was disappointing to think that they might have come all this way just to turn around, but Wolfgang could see their point. In an honest fight his mighty muscles could smash anything, but Maxwell was anything but honest. The man was like a greased snake. Slippery, wriggly, and able to bite before you had a chance to even blink.

"We should start headed back." Wilson said, peering up through the trees to get a glimpse of where the sun was in the sky. "If we hurry we can make it out of the swamp in time to make camp for the night. It will probably be out in the open, but by this time tomorrow we might be able to finish up our cabin back at camp. After that, wait, Wendy? What are you doing?"

While the others had been musing over what option to pursue, the girl and her sister had approached the machine. Her hand now rested lightly on the lever. As she turned to face the group, the ghostly smile on her face told Wolfgang that they probably wouldn't be making it back to camp any time soon.

"Once more into the breach?"

"Wendy! Wait, don't!" Wilson yelled, but it was far too late. With a quick yank, she pulled the lever. The whole machine shuddered, emitting a ghastly racket of metal grinding against metal.

Wolfgang, Willow, and Wilson could only stare as the wooden barrier opened up, revealing a column of darkness that writhed like a living thing. Quick as a lighting strike, a shadow hand darted out of the doorway and grabbed Wendy. She looked remarkably unconcerned as it yanked her towards the opening. Abigail remained near her the whole time.

The others jumped forwards in an attempt to catch her before she could be pulled in, but three more hands shot out and latched onto each of them. Wilson and Willow were immediately dragged into the darkness, their shouts of panicked protest vanishing as they passed through.

Wolfgang struggled against the shadowy appendage with all his might, the two of them locked in place. For a moment, he felt the grip of the unnatural limb start to loosen. His hope was quickly dashed as several more lunged out to grab his legs. He was upended, falling hard into the squishy ground as his feet were pulled out from underneath him. Before he could even think about crawling away, he was unceremoniously dragged kicking and fighting into the portal.

As the last of the group disappeared inside its depths, the doorway closed once more. Peace returned to the swamp, leaving nothing to mark the sinister events that had just transpired.


	14. Regicide part 1

**To sir omnom - Thank you, I'm glad you like the story. To answer your statement, I would just like to say that you must remember Wilson didn't choose to be a part of this. He, like all the others, was forced into this situation with no experience for this kind of thing. While being closer to Wendy might be expected under normal circumstances this is far from normal. Plus she is slow to trust and reveal her own feelings. Rest assured though, the relationships between characters are still developing, and will continue to develop throughout the story. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

* * *

><p>It was a very peculiar experience to be forcibly dragged through a tear in the fabric of reality. For Wilson, it was like being nowhere and everywhere at the same time. If his mind had been able to form any kind of coherent thought during the ride he likely would have been screaming in panic. As it was, the sheer sensory overload of the physics defying journey rendered him helpless to do anything other than fight to stay conscious.<p>

After falling through the void for heaven knows how long, one singular direction reasserted itself on the hapless scientist. Down. Wilson was simultaneously slammed back into reality and slammed face first into the ground as the laws of nature, something he was normally reassured by, decided to come back.

For a moment, he simply lay there in exhausted misery. The chance to catch his breath after such a traumatic journey was something he couldn't afford to pass up.

He let his head sink into the soft grass as the warmth of the sun beat down on his back. It was such a pleasantly different environment to the one he'd been subjected to a moment ago that he could almost fall asleep right there…

Hold on. Grass? Sunlight? Hadn't they just been wandering through a swamp or something?

Knowing his situation could only be revealed in one way, Wilson put forth a massive effort of will and managed to crack one eye open. His vision blurred in and out of focus as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing.

Sure enough, there was grass. Lots of it. It was thicker than the weedy shoots that filled their campsite, and felt slightly coarser. A distant part of his mind went over what type of environment would support such a plant. Not the mostly dry grassland that they were used to, that was for sure. It would take a fair amount of precipitation for the grass to be so hefty.

His meandering train of thought was brought to a halt as another oddity was slowly pulled into focus.

A pair of shoes were located a short distance from where he lay. Not just cheap ones either, these looked expensive and didn't show the wear and tear one would expect living out here. Connected to those shoes was a pair of fancy dress socks, leading up to a pristine pair of brown pants. As Wilson's gaze continued to climb, he was stricken by the sharp looking dress suit complete with a small rose in the lapel. In his haze, he didn't stop to consider just who would be mad enough to go around in the wilds in such attire.

That is, until he looked a little higher.

Wilson's heart just about stopped as he saw the face of the man in front of him. He looked exactly the same as he had when the scientist had first arrived. The same superior smirk, the same amused glint in his eyes, the same air of absolute control.

"Say pal, you don't look so good."

A primal cry of rage tore itself from Wilson's throat as he leapt to his feet, the earlier fog entirely erased. His knife was in his hand before he even realized what he was doing. Months of enduring the torturous conditions of the nightmare world boiled over into a single action as he threw himself at the hated figure.

"_Maxwell!"_

Wilson had never killed another man before, but in that moment he knew he couldn't do anything less than bury his blade hilt-deep in his tormentor's throat. After everything he'd put them through, it was the least this fiend deserved.

He crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. With every ounce of force he could muster the scientist swung his knife in a murderous arc, intent to permanently wipe the smile off Maxwell's face. His strike descended…

And went right through him.

Wilson let out a yelp of surprise as his momentum carried him through the incorporeal image. On the other side, a very dazed Wolfgang had been picking himself up off the ground only to come sprawling back down as the scientist plowed into him and brought them both down. It was by a mixture of luck and Wilson's reflexes that the knife buried itself in the dirt rather than the strongman's chest.

"That's just plain rude."

At Maxwell's condescending remark, Wilson was back on his feet in an instant. He brandished the knife threateningly, though he didn't try rushing him again. He had no intention of making a fool of himself to entertain their sick host.

"What the hell is going on!?" Willow's voice drew both their attentions to her. Her eyes darted back and forth between their surroundings and Maxwell himself, disbelief marked plainly on her face. "You! What did you do to us!? Was throwing us through that thing the first time not enough!? Answer me!"

He gave an amused chuckle in response.

"Don't look at me little lady, this one's on her." He said, gesturing to Wendy who was unsteadily getting to her feet. "She's the one who dragged you through that little ride. I personally would have thought the lot of you would have learned your lesson the first time, but I suppose I was wrong."

Wilson tightened his grip around the knife handle until his knuckles felt as though they were about to pop. He was treating this like a game. Standing there smirking while the rest of them struggled to get by on whatever meager scraps they could find.

"Enough of this!" The scientist cried, his patience for these twisted trials having evaporated a long time ago. "I'm finished with your tricks! Either you send us home right now, or I'll make you regret it dearly!"

The deadly serious expression on his face did little to wipe away Maxwell's mood. It was almost like he enjoyed seeing Wilson's defiance.

"I'm afraid that's where you're wrong." The man stated simply. "The game has only just begun. Of course, you weren't really supposed to make it this far but I have to give you points for trying. That little machine of yours is sure to come in handy."

He eyed the divining rod, currently located in the grass at Wendy's feet, appraisingly. A slimy shiver went up Wilson's spine at the compliment. It was like having a war criminal tell you that they enjoyed your work.

Before anyone could get a word in edgewise, the humor in Maxwell's face disappeared. In its place was a grave frown and a dark cloud hidden in his features.

"You've gone and made quite a stir you know." He remarked, the comment sounding far more sinister than its individual words would imply. "Since your little stay in my first world didn't pose much of a challenge, I've had to think of something a bit more… _difficult_ for your next task."

"Oh no, no you don't, _we're not playing by your rules!_" Wilson insisted. The thought of being subjected to another nightmare was too much to bear. "You send us back NOW! No more toying around! No more of this!" His arm shook with outrage as he jabbed the knife forwards to emphasize his words.

"No more!"

Maxwell shook his head sadly.

"You don't get it do you?" He said in disappointment. "You don't get a choice in the matter. _I_ decide if you play and what _I_ say goes. But I'm not an unreasonable man. I'm not about to drop you in the middle of nowhere with nothing. You can all keep the equipment you brought with you as well as anything you pick up along the way."

He raised his hand to silence the retort that Wilson was about to make.

"You've escaped one world." Maxwell stated. "Five more stand before you. Each one is designed to break you down until there's nothing left. The first four are all tailored to pick you apart in different ways. However, should you conquer those the fifth will hold all the answers you need. Both the key to escaping this world as well as the knowledge you came here seeking in the first place."

"Why are you doing this?" Willow demanded, trembling either out of fear or anger. In response Maxwell merely shrugged.

"Like I said, if you want answers you'll have to make it past the first four worlds." He explained. "The goal is simple. You found my doorway, so just do it again. Easy right? You have that little radio box to guide you so there shouldn't be any real issue with that part."

"That isn't all is it?" Wendy's question, unlike the others, wasn't filled with emotion. She spoke as though this whole situation was some perfectly normal outing. "If it was that simple, you wouldn't have gone through the trouble of making it by hand."

For a moment, Maxwell silently observed the girl and her ghostly sister. A small frown formed on his face as though he were trying to recall something. It vanished quickly however, leaving no trace of it having been there in the first place.

"You're friend seems to get it." He said, turning to Wilson. "Finding the door is the first part, but getting past the obstacles standing in the way is the second. It won't just be as simple as walking up to it like you did in this one."

He turned his back to them, the darkness that made up his illusory form dissipating. Before he vanished entirely, he spoke one last warning.

"I hope you're not a king's man mister Higgsbury, because the royal guard stands between you and your first target."

* * *

><p>They were upset with her. Wendy didn't need to be a mind reader to know that. After Maxwell had made his little speech, Wilson had silently snatched the divining rod from her and stormed off ahead. Willow wasn't much better. Every now and then she'd turn and look like she was about to say something, but she never did. She always turned away again with a shake of her head. Only Wolfgang and Abigail didn't seem to be angry. The strongman looked more worried than anything.<p>

It was surprising how much their disapproval stung. Wendy shouldn't care should she? The only way any of them were getting home was by going through Maxwell, so what did it matter if they didn't agree with her strategy? She'd be proven right in the end, and two could play the silent game.

The sting of tears prompted her to squeeze her eyes shut and quickly shake her head. No! She wasn't some stupid kid! She wouldn't start crying just because the adults were too dense to see the logic in her actions. Fixing her mouth in a thin line, she opened her eyes again to find Wolfgang giving her a concerned look.

"Is problem?" He asked. The man's seemingly simple nature was a slight reassurance. At the very least _he_ didn't question her decision.

"I'm fine." She answered, her voice sounding rougher than she'd intended. The girl looked down pointedly, choosing to cut off the conversation before it began. She really didn't want to talk right now. Thankfully Wolfgang caught the hint and left her alone, though his face fell as he did so. Great. Now she felt even worse.

With a dejected sigh, she turned her gaze skyward. Clouds darkened the air above their heads, having swarmed in shortly after they set out and blocked out the majority of the sunlight they'd been enjoying. It seemed like every part of this place was specifically designed to make them miserable. The muggy heat, the thick air, the constant overcast, the list went on and on…

As though guided by her negative thoughts, a large drop of water suddenly burst on Wendy's cheek. Heaving a groan, she turned to her sister who was hovering close by.

"Abigail?" She asked. "Could you fly up and see if there's any place we could take shelter inside? It looks as though there is going to be raining soon."

A hardly perceptible nod shimmered through the ghost's features as she ascended. Before long she had largely disappeared from sight, only the faint glow of her body differentiating her from the storm clouds overhead.

Another drip connected with Wendy's shoulder. So far it seemed that she was the only one who realized the sky was about to open up. She should probably tell the others.

Then again, maybe she shouldn't. Letting them get a bit drenched while she waited for Abigail to come back sounded like a delightful way to pay them back for their bad moods. Sure it was a bit petty, but she was feeling petty right now.

With a small smile, she wondered just how long she could leave them hanging before calling her sister back.

* * *

><p>"Quickly! This way!" Wendy's shout was almost swept away in the thundering winds. What had started as a minor drizzle had quickly elevated into a fully-fledged storm, complete with ripping gales and brilliant lightning that was just a tad too close for comfort.<p>

The others all rushed along with her, all of them struggling to keep Abigail's glimmer in sight. The spirit was their lifeline. Without her guiding them, the possibility of drowning in the sheer downpour was very real. Not to mention…

"Gah!" Willow cried out in pain as a giant frog lashed out at her ankles. The frogs, if they could truly be called such, had appeared with the rains. They proved to be significantly more dangerous than their appearance would suggest, armed with long barbed tongues that could easily draw blood and shred flesh.

Thankfully the fire starter was able to keep her footing, and quickly drew even with the group once more. More of the warty monsters tried to take pieces out of them, but they were keen to it now. Quick feet and nimble reactions managed to carry them through the gauntlet of wicked beasts.

"Just a bit farther!" Wendy could see that Abigail had stopped up ahead. She was hovering near some kind of structure. In the panicked rush, none of them bothered to wonder what a house was doing out here in the middle of nowhere.

Seeing the possible escape from the storm, they all put on an extra bust of speed as it drew closer. Willow shot ahead of them, shoulder charging into the door and all but shattering the old wood on impact. She fell face down in a heap, moaning in relief now that she was out of the rain.

Wendy, Wolfgang, Wilson, and Abigail quickly followed. For several minutes, the only sound that could be heard inside was the rapid panting of those trying to catch their breath after the run and the bang as Willow slammed the door shut to keep the rain out. When they had recovered enough to notice their surroundings, a high pitched scream of fright sounded over the pounding rain.

"Wait! Wolfgang, don't!"

Ignoring Wilson's protests, the terrified strongman leapt into his arms like a stereotypical housewife upon seeing a mouse. Of course, being much _much _heavier than a stereotypical housewife, his bulk toppled the scientist to the ground, nearly crushing him.

"Can't- Breathe- Help- Please- Dying-"

It took a great amount of effort, but Willow and Wendy managed to drag him off Wilson's form. As he sputtered and choked, the two females spotted the source of the panic.

Lying against the far wall of the small cabin was a skeleton. Sightless eye sockets stared back at them, and bleached white bones were scattered in a small arrangement. Though much of it had crumbled with age, it was clear that the person had died where they lay. This wasn't some gruesome trick being played by Maxwell.

"It seems we're not the first to come this way." Wendy thought out loud. She slowly edged closer until a hand clamped down on her shoulder.

"Don't touch it." Willow ordered sternly. "This could be another trap for all we know."

She pulled away, wrenching herself out of the woman's grip with a huff. It wasn't like she had been planning on using them in a voodoo ritual or anything. She'd just wanted a closer look.

As she looked away, refusing to meet the fire starter's eyes, something near the old corpse caught her eye.

"What's that?" She asked, pointing out the object in question. Abigail took that as a signal to shed more light on the room. She floated closer, bathing the already eerie skeleton in a spectral glow that illuminated everything.

The something turned out to be two somethings. Books to be exact. A pair of them rested underneath the desiccated remains of a hand, stacked one on top of the other. Whoever had been living here must have valued them highly.

By unspoken agreement, Willow crept forward. She used her staff to ease the bony appendage away enough to pry the books out from underneath it. When the skeleton didn't jump to life and try to tear her throat out she knelt down to pick them up, resting the staff on her shoulder and using her lighter to get a clearer view of the task.

"Look like anything useful?" Wilson asked, still a bit winded. She nodded, holding out the smaller of the two.

"You're going to want to see this."

The group crowded in as close as they could without things getting too uncomfortable. Setting both books on the ground, Willow opened up the smaller one to show them what she'd seen.

It was a journal. Not unlike the one Wilson himself had been writing before it became ruined. Much of its pages had crumbled over time, but the last entry was still very legible.

.

_I can no longer recall how long I've been here. Long enough to construct this place, though the exact number of days eludes me. That's sad in a way. I'm sure my students would be appalled to see me in such a disorganized state. _

_I was so close. So beautifully close. After searching high and low, I've finally managed to locate the doorway in this world. It is in the center of the pig village. Getting to it should have been easy, but sadly these bipeds are less amiable than the ones I'm used to. They appear to be of a warrior caste, protecting their king with violent aggression. _

_The doorway appears to have been modified to double as a throne, with the king himself seated upon it. I tried to sneak in during the night, but they were more attentive than I gave them credit for. I suppose I paid the price. Some quick thinking allowed me to escape their clutches, but one of the beasts struck me rather heavily in the side. After several days, the wound has failed to close and instead has become infected. I fear I have no way of fixing this situation._

_To anyone who might come across this writing finding themselves in a similar situation, I leave my spell book. I pray that it might be enough to help you along your way and allow you to succeed where I have failed. _

_This has been my final entry. Good fortune be with you._

_-Wickerbottom_


	15. Regicide part 2

**Sir omnom - I'm afraid that this story was planned out long before the Reign of Giants DLC came out so sadly there won't be any of that stuff included in it.**

**Cameron - While I did consider adding other characters, I've decided against it. The reason being that the main five are already splitting up the spotlight pretty drastically as is. If more were included, the story would likely become overly cluttered without adding much. Thank you for the suggestion though. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters. **

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><p>The generally depressing atmosphere in the cabin was only made worse by the constant sound of the rain pounding down on the roof. It was a ceaseless, inescapable, drumming that wormed its way into Wendy's ears like grave maggots burrowing into a corpse. Perhaps not unlike the corpse of the unfortunate individual that had built this place.<p>

The group had chosen to give Wickerbottom's remains a wide berth and leave them undisturbed. This was done partially out of respect for the fallen survivor, and partially out of a superstitious fear of some reprisal from beyond the grave.

There was only one room in the cabin, so space was a slight issue. Wilson had cleared out an area near the doorway, sweeping aside all flammable objects so that a small fire might be constructed on the dirt floor. The tiny flame gave a small amount of comfort to those around it. Even if it only offered a minimal amount of warmth, it sped up the rate at which their clothing dried and helped to block out the constant sound of the rain.

Wendy had consigned herself to sitting a small distance away from the fire, using the combined light of the flickering embers and her sister's luminescence to read from the second book the skeleton had been holding. The others had already looked inside, peering questioningly at the writing.

Wilson had been the first to dismiss it. In his words it was "nothing more than a bunch of nonsensical gibberish." Willow and Wolfgang backed up his assertion, neither realizing what was actually being said in those pages.

But Wendy knew. She could read the words _inside _the words. She could see the flowing structures of power built into every letter. There was so much hidden energy that it almost hurt to look upon, but she pushed on regardless. The words of the occult whispered to her, granting her solace from the ever present fall of the rain.

Wendy sighed softly as she turned another page. She wished she could have met the person who wrote it in the flesh. Whoever Wickerbottom had been, they'd tapped into a source of power that she herself had only started to explore. It was exhilarating to hold such power in her hands.

She kept the book's true nature a secret of course. Wilson and Willow wouldn't understand, and she couldn't be too sure about Wolfgang either. They all still saw her as a child, and in their misguided attempts to shelter her they'd no doubt take the tome away. With time, she was sure she could learn how to use it to her own ends.

Wendy smiled to herself. Soon she'd be able to beat Maxwell at his own game.

For a time, the only sounds that could be heard was the pounding rain, the crackle of the fire, the soft crinkle of turning pages, and the regular breathing of the survivors as they all slowly drifted off to sleep.

Feeling herself starting to fall under the sandman's spell, Wendy fought to keep her eyes open. There was still so much she wanted to learn from the book. She knew it was foolish to try and fit the whole experience into a single night, but that wouldn't stop her from trying.

Stifling a yawn, she fixed her eyes on the pages only to feel the breathy annoyance building up in her chest regardless of her efforts. It worked its way up her throat, catching as she struggled to keep it down. A silent battle of wills occurred between the girl and her fatigue, but its outcome was never truly in doubt.

Despite her need to learn more the yawn finally broke free, filling the cabin with the sound of her broken resistance. Slumping in defeat, she closed the book and placed it underneath her head as a sort of makeshift pillow. If she couldn't finish it tonight, at least it was close at hand.

It felt so comfortable to have a roof over her head. Having spent the better part of several months enduring the elements, Wendy had grown accustomed to suffering through near-sleepless nights when it rained. Hearing the pattering sound of drops breaking outside soon turned into a kind of lullaby. Its soothingly simply noises carried her away as her eyelids dropped. Little by little, she felt herself fading away from the conscious world.

…

What was that?

Regretfully, Wendy cracked one eyelid open to check on the others. They were all still in their positions near the fire where they had fallen asleep. That was odd. She could have sworn she'd heard-

There it was again!

Now fully awake, she sat up and strained her ears against the downpour outside to detect the disturbance. It took a moment, but she was soon able to discern a sound that stood out from the ambient noise.

A squelch of mud. A snap of twigs. The shuffling of something moving outside. Wendy's mind rapidly worked to put the pieces together, coming to a single terrifying conclusion. Before the shout of warning had even left her mouth, her fears were confirmed.

The door exploded inwards.

* * *

><p>The deafening sound of wood smashing against wood jarred Wilson from his slumber instantly. The scientist shot to his feet so quickly that it made his head spin, but his efforts were well warranted. Were it not for the painfully real sensations around him, he would have thought he was having a nightmare.<p>

Standing in the ruined doorway was a massive pig-man. Unlike the one's he'd come to associate with though, this one looked nothing short of terrifying.

Rippling muscle replaced the rolls of fat that had defined his portly builders. Built like an ox, the pig-warrior glared down at the scientist through tiny eyes and red war paint. Its mouth was twisted into an angry snarl that pulled back to show large, overly sharp, teeth. Not at all the kind of dental anatomy he'd expect from something that ate mostly plant foods. In place of the woven reeds that had acted as clothing on the friendly pigs, this one was decorated by tribal bone jewelry and what looked to be tied leather strips.

Letting out a bloodcurdling roar, the pig-beast made a truly gruesome declaration.

"Meat for king!"

Wilson's hand darted to his knife, drawing the sharpened blade just in time to see Abigail rocket forward and blast into the pig. The creature's battle cry quickly turned to a howl of pain as its skin rapidly withered away wherever the ghost touched it. It was hurled back through the open doorway, clearing a path for the survivors.

"Everyone up! We need to go, now!" Wilson shouted, having glimpsed more of the pig-warriors through the opening. "Move! Move! Move!"

The strongman and the two girls didn't need further encouragement. Knowing that staying put would only get them trapped, they all dashed through the doorway. The sight that greeted them outside was like something out of a horror story.

The house had been surrounded on all sides by the pigs. Each savage looking warrior was adorned with numerous tribal markings that gave the silent promise of violence. They carried torches strapped to their backs in order to both ward off the darkness and bathe themselves in a hellish glow. How the flames managed to stay lit in the rain, Wilson could only guess.

Abigail was currently darting to and from them, fighting to clear a way for her living companions.

The pigs however, were giving as good as they got. They attacked back with ferocious single-mindedness, exchanging fierce blows with the phantom each time she closed in. Each hit caused her form to shatter and reshape itself like the surface of a pond. Unlike the water however, she was growing visibly weaker. The strikes kept raining down heavily, leaving her less and less time to recover.

Wilson wasn't sure what would happen when she couldn't pull herself back together again, but he had no intention of finding out.

"Follow me! Break for the woods!" Escaping into the forest in the dead of night didn't sound like the smartest idea but staying here was just suicidal. They had to escape their hunters somehow and _maybe_ there was a small chance that whatever lurked in the dark hadn't followed them through the doorway.

Lightning erupted nearby, burning the image of a dozen raging pig-men into his retinas. Using the sudden brightness to its fullest, he directed the group towards an opening that had opened up as more of the creatures swarmed towards Abigail.

The four of them dashed past the pigs who realized too late that their spectral opponent was only buying time for the others. With them out of the circle, Abigail shot into the air and out of reach of the enraged beasts.

Wilson ran as fast as his legs could carry him towards the darkened tree line. He braced himself to enter the pitch black night, but the pigs had other ideas. They were sprinting after the humans, rapidly gaining as they dropped down on all fours and launched themselves like a pack of ravenous wolves. The light from their torches held the dark at bay, but that was only a small comfort in the face of their aggression.

The scientist risked a glance over his shoulder to see just how fast they were approaching. What he witnessed nearly gave him a heart attack. In the span of several heartbeats the pigs had more than made up for the head start that their prey had taken. They were almost on top of the fleeing group.

"Willow! Behind you!"

His panicked warning didn't reach the young woman in time. She had only just started to turn her head when the frontrunner of the pig-men bashed her to the ground with a nasty sideswipe. Before she'd even stopped rolling another of the savages was on top of her.

Wendy opened her mouth to shout something only to have one of the pigs shoot in from the side and wrap a meaty arm around her neck while hoisting her into the air. The girl's strangled gasps sparked a violent screech of rage from Abigail who fell upon the monster with furious brutality. The beast used its free arm to try beating back the vengeful spirit while keeping up the pressure on her sister's windpipe.

Wilson ground to a halt, his shoes digging into the muddy earth as he used is full weight to stop his momentum.

"Let them go!" His scream cut through the deluge of rain as he charged back towards the pigs. One of the bulkier specimens answered his cry with a roar of its own, bulldozing towards him at full speed.

The smart thing to do would have been to try and adjust course, but the sight of his companions in mortal danger filled Wilson's mind with adrenaline and wiped away such complex thoughts. He gripped his knife tightly, accidentally pressing his thumb down onto the gem that had been infused into its handle.

No sooner had he touched the jewel than an agonizing sensation tore through his mind. Caught entirely unprepared, Wilson screamed in anguish as a thousand invisible tendrils clawed at the inside of his head as though trying to worm their way into his thoughts. He instinctively tried drawing his consciousness away from the alien beings, severing his link to the gem with a desperate yank.

He didn't get the chance to ponder what had just happened. Using his distraction to its advantage, the pig rammed into him like a truck made of meat. The impact blasted the air from his lungs and hurled him bodily into the mud.

Wilson hardly had time to regain his bearings before a heavy blow to the back of the head wiped away sensation entirely.

* * *

><p>Wolfgang's heart pounded against his chest like a jackhammer as he fled. He'd never run so fast before in his life, but he could already tell that it wasn't enough. The light from the pig torch was getting closer and even his mighty legs couldn't compete with a monster running on four limbs like that. He was truly terrified.<p>

As the trees started to thicken around him, he was forced to slow down by the tiniest fraction to avoid hitting one. This minor opening gave his hunter the opportunity it needed. Nearly six hundred pounds of fleshy muscle crashed into his back, propelling him forward and down into the ground.

Thankfully, the strongman's time in the circus proved invaluable in that moment. His training had ensured that he knew how to take a fall.

He hit the soggy soil rolling, using the pig's forward inertia to throw it off of him. The creature tumbled head over heels before crashing to a halt. It was back on its feet almost instantly, and the spill had done very little to improve its mood. It glared out at him, squealing in anger as it charged again.

Wolfgang held his hammer in a two handed grip, jumping forwards with energy that was half survival instincts and half desperation. He let out a wordless yell, swinging the stone tool with all of his strength.

The hammer cracked sharply with the sound of breaking bone as it smashed into the base of the pig's skull, pulverizing the berserk pseudo-human flat into the dirt. He held his breath for a moment, waiting for it to leap up and attack again.

It didn't.

Wolfgang collapsed down, sinking slightly into the mud. His hammer fell from nerveless hands as he drew his knees up to his chest and moaned pitifully. He couldn't stop shaking.

They were gone. They were all gone. His friends… his companions… all taken by these freakish creatures.

And he'd left them behind.

He hadn't meant for it to happen, but the others hadn't kept up with him. They'd been caught long before he even realized they were no longer by his side, and at that point it was far too late to do anything to help them. They'd been stolen away and he hadn't so much as tried to save them.

Wolfgang lay there in a miserable heap next to the dead pig for the rest of the night. He didn't notice when the light from the torch finally started to die. He didn't notice as the darkness crept dangerously close, nor was he aware that a shadowy end was mere inches away from him by the time the sun peeked over the horizon. He knew nothing until the thick heat of the day roused him from his stupor.

The strongman rose from the muck, not like a burning phoenix, but rather like a desiccated zombie crawling up from its grave. His face bore the strain of the guilt he'd been subject to during the night.

What was he meant to do? Go after them? He couldn't fight those… those _things!_ Just the thought of their monstrous forms and hate filled glares made him want to curl up and hide. Not to mention they outnumbered him drastically. He might be the mighty, but he was still only one man. Even he had his limits.

He couldn't simply leave them to their fates either. They were his friends; he owed them for all that they had done for him. He knew that none of them would abandon him to the mercy of some sickly twisted beast-men.

Wolfgang whimpered, sinking down once more as standing became too much of a burden. He was torn. Neither option could end well. One led to certain death at the hands of the pigs, while the other offered a miserable survival followed by a very probable death by whatever other nightmares lurked in the world he was trapped in.

_What is there to be afraid of if death can't touch you?_

Wilson's words slapped him upside the head like a sack of bricks. Blinking several times, he looked down at the necklace that still hung over his chest. The so called 'life amulet' that he'd been gifted with.

He took the medallion up in a trembling hand, examining its crimson center with a sorrowful gaze. Very slowly, his fingers curled inwards over it.

A deep breath tore itself from Wolfgang's chest as he closed his eyes. Opening them once more, a fire burned inside his heart. The strongman picked his hammer back up, his features hardening into a stone expression of determination.

He _would _find the others. He _would _get them back. He was Wolfgang, the strongest man alive and _nobody_ would endanger his friends and get away with it. If he had to smash through a legion of pig-men to save them then you could be sure that he'd do just that.

* * *

><p>It took three hours for Wolfgang to locate the pig village. The only reason he was able to find it at all was due to the enormous plume of smoke that rose a mile into the air being given off by the massive bonfire at its center.<p>

The congregation was massive. Nearly one hundred huts dotted the center of a giant clearing. The pigs all bustled around as they made ready to accommodate their new prisoners.

Willow, Wendy, and Wilson had been trapped in wooden cages near the fire. Of Abigail, there was no sign. Judging by the bones that littered the area, they weren't being kept alive just because the pigs were feeling merciful. They were going to become the main dishes in what looked to be a ritual feast.

That is, unless Wolfgang saved them.

He'd watched the campsite from the relative safety of the trees, observing as much as he could without being spotted. By all accounts, things looked grim.

He was absurdly outnumbered and there was absolutely no chance of him winning a head on fight with so many. To even try would be a death sentence. He had to figure out a way to even the odds when he was down almost a hundred to one.

And then there was the king to consider…

There was no mistaking the pig king in this village, even if he was drastically different from the dreadfully obese creature that had ruled the others.

This beast was an absolute terror. He stood a full ten feet tall, his entire body seemingly bulging with barely contained muscles. Even the largest pig-warrior looked minuscule by comparison.

While that alone would have been enough to crack Wolfgang's nerves under normal circumstances, it got worse from there. In addition to his size, the pig king was wearing some kind of armor. Its dull bronze plating reminded him of something he'd once read about indigenous tribes. It had intricate designs that matched the ones on his helmet.

As a final disturbing addition to the hulking display, the pig king's front legs didn't end in the cloven hooves that his soldiers had. Instead, hairy pink fingers extended outwards and wrapped around a massive club that appeared to be made out of the same material as his armor. For all intents and purposes, the king was equipped like a military general.

Despite the daunting nature of his task, Wolfgang was not about to turn back. The others were depending on him and he wouldn't let them down. He needed a plan, and as luck would have it inspiration was quick in coming to him.

The village was sheltered on one side by a massive hill that extended out of the clearing. The uprising, likely sheltering them from intense winds, jogged his memory and reminded him of the hill he'd been standing on when he first met Willow.

A surprisingly clever idea forming in his mind, Wolfgang set off to start climbing. It was time to put his might to work.


	16. Regicide part 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

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><p>His body ached. Each limb burned relentlessly from the exertion of putting his plan into place, but rest was the furthest thing from Wolfgang's mind. No less than twenty minutes ago, the drums had started down in the pig village. He didn't have to be a fancy scientist to know what those meant. So, with the mounting urgency giving him the extra bit of energy he needed, he'd finished up his secret weapon and situated himself out of sight on the hill. Taking his enemy by surprise would help to ensure they didn't suspect the true threat until it was too late.<p>

Gripping his hammer tightly, the strongman peered out from his hiding place amidst the trees. From this distance he could just barely make out the sinister spectacle. Around the main bonfire, several smaller piles of kindling had been stacked up. They weren't nearly as impressive as the massive blaze but they were far more practical when it came to actual cooking.

As Wolfgang watched, the cages holding his friends were dragged forward. The one containing Wilson was opened and two massive pig-warriors forcibly pulled him forwards. It was too far away to hear, but it looked as though Wendy and Willow were shouting something. Their actions earned their cages a couple swift kicks and glares from their captors.

Anger burned hot in Wolfgang's heart as the scientist was thrown bodily into the dirt. His hands and legs were tied around a waiting spit by a couple of the more dexterous pigs. They had to use their mouths to compensate for their lack of opposable digits.

Once he was secured, they hoisted their captive up and set him on a waiting rack positioned above one of the smaller, unlit fires. Another pig, carrying a torch in its mouth, looked to ensure that it didn't stay unlit for very long.

Wolfgang's breathing picked up as he recognized that it was now or never. Fear still clung to him like a leech, but for the first time he was able to push past it. Fear wouldn't stop him. Nothing would.

He burst from his hiding spot, racing down the side of the hill as fast as his legs could carry him.

The pig made its way over to Wilson's fire, carefully balancing its torch.

Wolfgang's momentum carried him forward so fast that it was everything he could do to stop from falling and tumbling the rest of the way down.

It arrived, placing the bundle of shouldering plant matter between its two hooves.

Soreness and fatigue ceased to plague him as the adrenaline raced through his system. There would be no turning back, and he had no room for weakness.

The drums stopped. The torch was raised. The pigs all ceased their activities to watch as the ceremony commenced.

The strongman exploded into the edge of the camp, sending up a shower of branches and debris as he smashed through the ferns in his way.

"_PIIIIIIIIIIIGS!"_

His voice boomed through the silence, drawing a hundred pairs of eyes to his location. Brandishing his hammer like the legendary Excalibur, he proclaimed his challenge.

"Your mother is swine!"

A few of the creatures looked at each other with questioning glances and a couple shrugs, but most simply appeared confused. Realizing that his insult was more stating a fact than anything, Wolfgang thought quickly.

"And is smell like rotted fish!"

That got their attention. Confusion turned to outrage as a chorus of indignant squeals filled the air. The pigs charged forward as one, intent on making this foolish human pay for daring to question the integrity of their heritage.

Wolfgang was off like a rocket, dashing back up the way he had come. It was much more difficult to run uphill but the thought of what would become of him should he get caught motivated his legs to drive him forwards. Behind him, many of the pig-warriors were closing in on his position thanks to the benefit of running on more than two limbs.

The strongman couldn't help but smile in grim determination.

One of the most important things he'd learned during his circus career was that balance is every bit as important as strength. There was more to lifting a dumbbell than just packing on muscles. If you couldn't keep the weight even, they would come crashing down causing major harm. It was for that reason that he knew just how to deal with the ravenous hoard behind him.

Panting from exertion, Wolfgang spotted his target up ahead. A large fallen tree had been carefully positioned flat against a smaller, standing pine. It had been laid out so that it was delicately balanced with both ends jutting out to each side.

He put on an extra burst of speed, aiming himself just right of the upright tree. Knowing full well that his hunters were closing in rapidly, He lowered his shoulder and braced for impact.

Wolfgang hit the fallen tree with bone-jarring force. The collision sent a massive wave of pain up his shoulder and throughout his body, but it didn't give him pause. He quickly recovered and began climbing up the standing tree as fast as he physically could.

The fastest of the pigs let out cries of triumph as they saw their quarry fleeing up the tree. He was trapping himself with no hope of escape. His rash decision had left him utterly helpless before them.

That was when they heard the cracking.

The noise of splintering wood filled the air as the formerly small fracture in the fallen tree grew in size. Wolfgang's impact had ruptured the old wood and set in motion a chain of events that nobody could hope to stop now.

The pigs slowed their charge sensing that something was terribly wrong. The log began to buckle inwards, looking almost like a slowly closing bear trap whose mouth was pointed directly downhill. Their primitive minds took precious moments to realize that it could only be doing that if there was some great force pushing it downward on the other side.

The tree snapped, breaking inwards like a massive wooden floodgate. This floodgate however wasn't holding back water…

The forest was suddenly filled with countless terrified shrieks as the pigs realized they'd been tricked. They frantically struggled to slow down and turn the other direction as they saw a miniature tidal wave of boulders bearing down on their position.

Wolfgang had been very busy. Earlier that day, he'd located a small quarry on the other side of the hill and had spent many hours hoisting those massive rocks up to the peak. A task that would have otherwise been impossible for a single man had taken him roughly eight hours of nonstop toil. He pushed through hunger, fatigue, and the strain of his own body with the kind of tunneled determination that only a select few could ever hope to experience. Once they'd been repositioned, he'd found the remains of an old tree and used it as a blockade to hold his trap as he moved them to the slope of the hill. He'd put more and more behind the old log until it could barely hold them. After that, all he had to do was destabilize the setup and he'd have his own manmade avalanche.

Which happened to be hurtling down the hill towards an army of pig-soldiers.

The front half of the pig tribe did the only thing they could think to do and began sprinting back down the hill and away from the falling rocks. This had the tragic side effect of causing them to run right into the back half who hadn't realized the danger yet and had still been chasing after Wolfgang. Some of the more clever pigs ran to the sides in an attempt to escape the path of destruction, but the vast majority were stuck in place as the boulders hit.

The rocky wave struck the wall of pink flesh like a train striking a flock of pigeons. Pigs were crushed, thrown aside, and launched into the air as gravity dragged the boulders down with inexorable surety.

As the pigs were flattened, the rockslide also broke down some of the smaller trees in its path. These added to the mass of the avalanche and tore up the soil, causing even larger trees to fall and be pulled along. Very soon it was almost like the whole side of the hill was falling on the heads of the panicked pigs, ravaging their lines with pitiless brutality.

The flood of soil, rocks, and assorted flora hit the bottom of the hill hard, sending up a spray of all manner of debris. It continued forwards, demolishing several of the outlying pig houses until it eventually lost momentum and slid to a halt just outside the main settlement.

Back on the hillside, the shell-shocked survivors dragged themselves from the ruins. All the pigs could do was stare in horrified fascination at the cascade that had buried so many of their numbers.

They were not prepared in the slightest for what happened next.

"_WOOOOLLLLFFFGGAAAANNGGG!"_

The strongman's battle cry tore through the air like a clap of thunder, heralding the coming of the end of days. He descended on the pig-warriors with righteous vengeance, his hammer reaping a terrible toll on any unfortunate enough to be caught in its path.

They tried to reorganize what few of their number remained but the wild man in their midst didn't give them the opportunity to do so. He was a one-man-army, smashing through pigs left and right. Those that tried to stand in his way were pummeled to a pulp by his weapon that blurred across their forms in a deadly arc. The sickening sound of snapping bones and tearing flesh would punctuate each solid hit.

After having seen their comrades swept away in the landslide, and now having to deal with this demon in their midst, the remaining pig-warriors broke and fled. Wolfgang swiveled to and fro, his hammer at the ready, but no more tried to engage him. The few battered survivors ran in all directions, choosing to brave the dangers of the forest rather than continue the fight.

The strongman let out a heavy breath, but he didn't allow himself to rejoice in triumph yet. There was one more foe that had to be felled. One he was almost certain hadn't been present during the avalanche of earth.

Chest out, shoulders raised, back straight, and head held high, Wolfgang marched his way down towards the pig village. It was time to rescue his friends.

* * *

><p>Wilson could hardly believe what he'd just witnessed. Here he was, tied to a large stick and held above an unlit fire, and he'd watched as a large portion of the surrounding hillside seemingly fell on the heads of his captors. He couldn't get a good glimpse of what had followed, but Wolfgang's war shout, followed by the terrified squeals of his opponents left little to the imagination.<p>

He was speechless. He really was. Not only had the strongman just prevented him from being roasted alive, he'd actually routed a miniature army all by himself. There was just one small problem.

Or rather, one _very large _problem.

When the pig-warriors had charged on after Wolfgang, their king had remained behind. Whether he'd suspected the trap or simply felt that going after the man was beneath him was open to speculation. Either way, he'd been spared from the resulting catastrophe. And now he seemed rather upset.

The beast trembled in barely restrained rage as Wolfgang walked into view. Striding over the path of destruction, he glared right back at the pig-king. No words were spoken. None were needed. Neither warrior was about to back down, and both knew that only one of them could be leaving.

With a bellowing primal roar, the king lifted up its massive club and hurled itself forwards. Wolfgang answered back with a cry of his own, raising his hammer and shooting towards the fast approaching juggernaut. Wilson was helpless to do anything other than look on as two unstoppable forces rapidly closed in on one another.

At the very last second, Wolfgang leapt to the right, narrowly avoiding the club that had been falling towards his head. The pig-king's attack smashed into the earth with a deafening bang, sending up a small cloud of dirt and dust as it pulverized the soil into a fine mist. This left the hulking mountain of muscle open for a brief moment. An advantage that his opponent was quick to capitalize on.

The stone hammer bashed into the side of the pig's body between the armor plates at a wicked speed, sending it reeling backwards. It disengaged with surprising swiftness, putting distance between the two of them. After a brief pause it became clear that the blow had done no serious damage, much of it having been absorbed by the pig-king's bulk.

Wilson started struggling with his restraints as the two combatants began circling each other. The woven grass that made up his ropes scratched his skin terribly, but he ignored the discomfort. There was no way he was going to sit idly by while his friend fought for his life.

A shout of pain drew his attention back to the battle just in time to see Wolfgang slam forcefully against the wall of one of the pig houses. He doubled over, clutching his gut and wheezing out tortured breaths. Thankfully it appeared that he'd been struck by one of the pig-king's meaty limbs rather than its club. The latter of the two would likely have left him crippled in the dirt.

He managed to regain his footing just as the overgrown boar was readying for another charge. This time however, he took the initiative and threw himself forwards before it could get going. Caught off guard by the sudden attack, the pig-king raised its club in a hasty block.

Wolfgang's hammer swung in an upwards arc, connecting with the club near the hilt. The stone tool proved to be the lesser of the two weapons and exploded on impact in a shower of rock fragments and wood shrapnel.

The force of the blow was so great that the club was torn from the pig-king's hands, catapulting the massive bludgeoning device towards the edge of the village. It bounced only a single time before its weight ground it to a halt, a small cloud of dust marking where it hit.

Wolfgang didn't waste a moment. Before the debris that had once been his trusty hammer even had time to settle, he was dashing towards the fallen weapon as fast as he physically could. Wilson held his breath in a silent prayer only to let it out again as the strongman's hands closed around the club and a triumphant cheer tore itself from his throat.

"Wolfgang! Behind you!"

Willow's shouted warning drew both of their gazes to the looming threat. Wilson's blood went cold at the sight.

Wolfgang hadn't reached the weapon first because he'd been faster than the giant pig. Rather, his opponent hadn't been aiming to retrieve it at all. When he'd dashed after it, the king had taken the opportunity to rush towards the pile of debris that encompassed the edge of his village.

That was where he stood now, muscles straining, veins bulging, and beady eyes glaring balefully while he hoisted a boulder that was almost as big as he was up over his head. Another roar issued forth from its cavernous chest as it threw the enormous rock with every ounce of strength it possessed.

Four pairs of eyes widened in horror as the projectile soared towards Wolfgang. He tried to jump out of the way, but it was far too late.

The boulder hit like a falling star, crushing him into the ground and filling the air with a terrible cracking sound. The rock continued rolling forwards, leaving his shattered body behind as it bowled through the side of a pig house and brought the structure crashing down.

Wilson's mind ceased to function. He couldn't think, couldn't struggle, couldn't so much as bring himself to look away from the crumpled heap that was his friend. The strongman resembled a broken doll. His limbs splayed out in a haphazard manner, one arm bent at an impossible angle. But this was no toy. The steadily growing pool of crimson liquid he lay in was enough to confirm that.

An anguished scream ripped from Wilson's throat as he attacked his bindings with new energy. The skin of his wrists tore open, but he hardly noticed. All that mattered was breaking free and rushing to the strongman's aid. It didn't matter that the pig-king could likely crush him with a single backhanded swipe, he had to try something.

The pig turned away from Wolfgang's form with a satisfied grunt. Seeing Wilson desperately trying to break free, its eyes narrowed in annoyance. It started towards him only to be interrupted as a massive gust of wind tore through the village.

Wilson stopped fighting as the sky turned overcast. The air whipped past his face like a storm of tiny blades. Clouds shrouded everything in a darkened haze, leaving only one spot still illuminated.

Like a beacon from heaven, a single ray of light fell from the sky over Wolfgang's body.

That was when the impossible happened. With no strings or hand to hold it, the amulet around his neck began to hover in the air much like Abigail's flower had done when she'd come close to breaking through to their world. It kept rising until the chain was pulled taunt. Even that didn't stop it as he was dragged upwards with it. Roughly four feet off the ground, the medallion paused, twinkling in midair while the onlookers stared in shock.

With no warning, the amulet shot downwards, slamming into Wolfgang's chest like a speeding bullet and emitting a blinding light. It was so intense that Wilson was forced to close his eyes and look the other direction. Even then, the extreme display seared his eyelids.

As quickly as it had appeared, the light vanished leaving everyone blinking in confusion.

Confusion soon turned to disbelief, which then led its way to breathless awe as Wilson saw what had become of his fallen companion.

Despite having just been crushed in what was certainly a life ending disaster, Wolfgang was slowly standing up. His movements were sluggish and his head faced downwards, hiding his expression, but there wasn't so much as a single scratch on his body. The amulet had vanished and taken every bit of damage with it.

One hand still gripped around the club, Wolfgang's face turned upwards. His body straightened as he grinned defiantly at the shocked pig-king.

"Is that piggy-man's best?" He demanded, lifting the gargantuan weapon into a ready position. "You will need to do better against man as mighty as me!"

Two emotions raged across the hulking creature's face. The savagery that it had so often called upon battled with the sudden fear of this creature that had simply shrugged off being flattened. The unfamiliar feeling of indecision filled its movements as it took a small step backwards.

Wolfgang didn't give it a chance to run.

"This is for trying to hurt friends!" He shouted, dashing forwards with his repossessed weapon raised high. Falling back on its instinctive aptitude for violence, the pig-king automatically took off towards him as well. It was almost an exact reenactment of how the battle had started, but this one had a far different ending.

The club smashed directly into the pig's face with the force of both warriors' momentum behind it. The blow tossed the massive creature head over heels backwards and forced it bodily to the ground. Wolfgang swung his cudgel in an overhead arc, bringing it crashing down on the fallen king's head with a massive crunch.

The tribal crown was flung free from the beast's head, rolling across the floor until it was stopped under Wolfgang's foot.

Panting heavily, the man's face curved upwards in a crooked smile.

"That is what happens when you try to hurt friends."

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later, the group of newly freed survivors found themselves around the throne of the former king. They'd retrieved all their belongings which had been taken by their captors, including Abigail's flower, which Wendy had been beyond relieved to find intact, and Wilson's knife, which he was unsure if he actually <em>wanted<em> after the brief experience during their capture.

Needless to say, the atmosphere of the reunion was filled with relief. Willow had gone rapidly back and forth between praising Wolfgang as a hero and scolding him for doing something so stupidly dangerous. Wilson had been a bit more reserved, giving him a firm half-hug and ignoring the fact that the gesture likely did very little to reinforce his recently threatened manliness. Even Wendy had shown honest concern, graciously thanking him and saying how glad she was that he was all right.

Wolfgang had taken all their praise in stride, waving away the title of hero and replying by saying that he'd simply done what any of them would have in that situation. Or rather, he'd accomplished the end result of what they would have done. The others really didn't have the stamina and strength to push giant rocks up a hill like that.

Though his amulet and hammer were lost, he'd taken up the crown and club from his foe in their place. While slightly too big for him, the decorative peace of headgear certainly fit after what had just happened. The armor the king had been wearing was too heavy to even consider bringing along.

Freshly restocked and together once again, the four of them faced the king's throne. Just as the diary of the late Wickerbottom had described, the large seat had been built outwards from Maxwell's doorway. The divining rod had confirmed it well enough, blaring obnoxiously until they got close enough for it to shut up.

"What now?"

The question, posed by Wendy, brought Wilson out of his thoughts. The others all looked to him expectantly. He was still rather upset with the younger girl for throwing them into this whole mess to begin with, but at this point they were committed. Backing out now wouldn't help them escape.

"We take the next step." He responded, stepping forwards and gripping the lever. "We've beaten one world, so we know it can be done. We'll take the fight to Maxwell yet."

Though nervous, they all nodded in confirmation. They were as ready as they'd ever be. It was time to move on.

Taking a deep breath in preparation for what was about to happen, he pulled.


	17. Cold comfort part 1

**Well, that was a delay and a half. Big apologies to everyone who was waiting. I've been getting slammed with prep for transferring to a college that's over three hundred miles away, so I haven't had much time to work on this story. That shouldn't happen much though. I like to keep to a schedule, so I hope to avoid missing updates again. **

**ThatGuyThatComments - Updates usually come around every Thursday/Friday unless something comes up that takes priority. If it's something big, you can check my profile under Long Live the King for an estimation on when the next chapter should be out. As for other characters, I've said before that I don't plan on including any more in this story since it would make things too cluttered. Not to mention that at this point it would be very difficult to introduce them with the direction I have planned. Thank you for the suggestion though.**

**Dara999 - Never. Your pun has been recorded and stored away for future generations to enjoy and or despise. **

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><p>As his senses slowly came back to him, Wilson became conscious of several things. One; the act of being forcibly thrown through a hole in the fabric of reality was just as unpleasant when you knew what to expect. Two, the whole thing probably wasn't very good for him as it left him feeling terribly nauseous and gave him a splitting headache. And three, whatever world they'd just been transported to had one painfully defining feature that even his disoriented senses couldn't ignore.<p>

It. Was. Cold.

Seeping, gripping, bone-chilling cold. The kind that sunk into your body and turned your blood into slush. Wilson tried to push himself up to get a better idea of where he was only to have his hands sink into soft substance beneath him. Prying his eyes open, he was greeted by the sight of pure white stretching in all directions. A massive blanket of snow, broken up occasionally by the interspersed skeletons of old trees.

Trees and one particularly unwelcome figure.

Maxwell looked somewhat different than he had the first time. He was now wearing a fine fur coat that looked about as expensive as a moderately sized home, but his clothing was only a minor change. What really struck Wilson was the frown that had settled on his face. Up until this point, the scientist had only ever witnessed a smug look of self-assured superiority from him. The sight of his displeasure, however slight, was unsettling.

"All still alive eh?" Maxwell questioned as the group got to their feet, shivering heavily in the frigid air. "You seem to be missing a ghost though. No matter, she should be along shortly. Those things are irritatingly hard to get rid of."

"W-We beat y-your first test." Wilson declared, trying and failing to keep his teeth from chattering. "I-Is a bit of c-cold the best you've g-got to follow up with?"

For a second, Maxwell's eyes fixed on him and the grim expression on his face deepened. All noise stopped dead. Not even the rustle of the wind disturbed them. The scientist gulped, stricken by the thought that challenging their captor likely wasn't the smartest of moves.

The moment passed, and the easily recognizable look of controlling satisfaction spread across his features once more. The ambient sounds of their wintery surroundings followed.

"Now, now, no need to be hasty." Maxwell remarked with a light chuckle. "Beating a bunch of angry pigs is one thing, but you've got Mother Nature after you now. This place should be more than capable of putting your survival skills to the test. And, in the event that you find it a bit too easy, you're running on a clock. I've got a friend wandering around here. Take my word for it when I say that you _don't _want to run into him."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Willow demanded, making her way up beside Wilson. "Who's out there? Who's looking for us?"

Her distress seemed to amuse Maxwell further, his grin now revealing the barest hints of teeth.

"Don't worry; you won't have to deal with him so long as you make it out in time. If you don't… heh… you won't have much time to regret it. Oh, and before I go…"

He took that opportunity to point behind them, drawing the group's eyes to a decent sized pile of firewood. The lumber was partially buried in the snow as though it had been prepared long in advance.

"Wouldn't want you to freeze to death before things even get started now would we?" He asked. "Good luck now. You've still got a couple trials after this so be sure to pace yourselves."

A cheeky wink and a mocking bow marked Maxwell's disappearance as his form faded away. Once he was gone the cold hit Wilson full force, prompting him to shudder violently and wrap his arms around his body in order to preserve body heat.

"W-Wendy?" He called, getting the girl's attention. Up until that point she'd been huddled in on herself, doing what she could to stay warm. "What d-does the divining rod sound like? How f-far away from t-the door are w-we?"

Understanding that he wasn't asking for an exact measurement of distance, she checked the device. It only took a couple moments for her to determine her answer.

"T-Too far. Much t-too far. We will f-freeze long before we f-find it."

"Wolfgang is not afraid of puny cold!" The strongman stated, standing tall. "Muscles is mightier than snow!" Despite his confident words, he couldn't quite hide the shivers that shook his body.

"We need a f-fire." Wilson said. "Once we g-get a fire set up, we c-can worry about the r-rest."

"Way ahead of you!"

He was pleasantly surprised, something he hadn't been in a very long time, to find Willow already having cleared away a small patch of ground to set up a fire pit. The snow hadn't been as deep as he'd feared, and she'd swept away enough that they'd all have some room to group together around it.

"All right, l-let's hurry." He said, shuffling his way over to the pile of lumber. "The sooner we g-get this going the s-sooner we can start getting out of here."

They arranged the logs into the shape of a fire quickly enough, though even with their speed the chill still numbed their fingers by the time they were done. Wendy was taking cover behind Wolfgang, using his bulk to shield herself from the wind while Wilson rapidly paced in the hopes of keeping his extremities warm.

Willow struggled to flick her lighter on. Her hands were shaking so badly that she couldn't get the grip she needed to activate it. Her desperation and frustration grew each time the flame failed to appear, finally boiling over as the tiny case slipped from her hand and fell into the snow.

"Come on!" She shouted, kicking out at the nearest object to vent her growing stress. As luck would have it, that object happened to be the staff that she'd been gifted with before they had left their makeshift home.

As soon as her foot came into contact with it, the gem suddenly burst with brilliant crimson light. A streak of fire erupted from it, exploding into a miniature bonfire as it hit the fire pit they'd been making. All four of them jumped back with cries of shock, landing heavily on their backsides. None of them budged. They could only stare in wonder at the newly crackling flames.

"No way…" Willow remarked, eyes wide with disbelief and uncertainty. Even she didn't know what to make of the sudden occurrence.

_This staff will let you spread the joy of total immolation with the rest of the world from a safe distance._

The words from his note came rushing back to the forefront of Wilson's awareness. It didn't seem possible. It shouldn't be possible, but somehow his venture into insanity had allowed him to create items that broke the laws of nature. First the divining rod, then the amulet that brought Wolfgang back from the brink of death, and now this.

"No way." Willow repeated, her voice holding something akin to excitement this time. "It actually… you made… it…"

After having spent so much time around the young woman, Wilson would have thought that there was nothing she could do that would surprise him at this point. He was wrong.

Emitting a high-pitched girlish squeal that sounded nothing short of disturbing coming from her, the fire starter leapt up, nearly toppling him over as she tackled him in a crushing hug.

"_Look!"_ She shouted, as though there was anything else that any of them could have done in that moment. _"You didn't tell me it starts fires! This is incredible! Just look at that!"_

"Gah! Willow! Please, my ribs are breaking from the amount of punishment everyone keeps putting them through!" Wilson pleaded, struggling to keep from being crushed. While not as physically overwhelming as Wolfgang's embrace, hers had much more energy behind it.

"I had no idea it could do that!" She shouted exuberantly, releasing her stranglehold on his body and turning to fawn over the device. "You made me a staff that can shoot fire!"

"Uh…" He didn't have an answer to that. On one hand, a device that could hurl flames would no doubt have its uses and it certainly brought a smile to Willow's face. On the other, giving her what appeared to be the equivalent of a magical flamethrower didn't seem like the sanest of ideas.

"Just… be careful with it." He said at last. She nodded in response, but gave no other indication that she'd even registered his words. She was too busy examining the staff with a grin that was reminiscent of a child finding hidden presents.

Wilson cringed to himself, wondering just what crime against humanity he'd just inadvertently committed. Brushing aside some of the snow, he fished her lighter out of the white blanket. She accepted it back with an almost mechanically automatic gesture, never taking her eyes off the gem.

One look at the sky told him that they probably wouldn't be going anywhere tonight.

"It's getting late." He pointed out, getting the attention of the others. "I vote we make camp here for now and see what we can do about moving forwards in the morning. I don't think that keeping the fire going should be a problem for the time being."

"What about the warning?" Wendy asked, apparently having warmed up enough to take part in the conversation. "Maxwell said there was something out here with us. Shouldn't we be trying to find the exit as soon as possible?"

"And food!" Wolfgang chimed in. "Is not much food in snowy places and Wolfgang is hungry!"

Wilson held up a hand, signaling that he would be answering their questions one at a time.

"I heard the warning." He assured. "But running around in the night when it drops to freezing temperatures would kill us just as certainly as any monster. We aren't equipped for doing something like that. Besides, he might be bluffing."

The skeptical look she gave him made it clear that she didn't believe he was trying to mislead them. If Wilson was honest with himself, he didn't really believe that either.

"As for food, we can go foraging tomorrow." He said, turning to a dejected looking Wolfgang. "We'll have to tough it out tonight. I just want everyone to be clear that we're probably going to need to ration out our supplies while we're here. Things don't grow well in the cold."

Judging by the look of pure sorrow on the strongman's face, he may as well have said that they were all going to starve to death. Wilson knew how much he ate but surely he could stand to cut down on some of those calories couldn't he? A temporary diet wouldn't kill him.

Settling down in a relatively snow-free patch of frozen grass, he settled back to get some rest while he could. He couldn't shake the feeling that it was going to be a long night and he'd need all the energy he could get.

* * *

><p>It was funny in a way how sleep refuses to come when you know you need it most. A horribly infuriating, mind-numbingly rage inducing way that is.<p>

That night was one of the worst Wilson had ever had to endure. He couldn't figure out exactly what the problem was, but no matter how much he tossed and turned he couldn't let himself drift off. He'd lain awake during all the other's shifts on fire duty, and now that it was his he'd finally resigned himself to getting no sleep at all.

The chill in the air was bitter to be certain, but he didn't think that was it. After having spent such a long time learning to sleep in the elements something like this shouldn't have been a problem.

Letting out a hopeless sigh, Wilson turned over for what was likely the hundredth time the past couple hours alone.

His mind was wandering. He couldn't help it. There were so many questions that he had, but no answers to sate them with. Even with his intelligence, Wilson couldn't help but feel that things were rapidly spiraling out of his control. It was frightening to be so worried when he had no clue what was even bothering him.

Lying on his back, he looked up to the stars. They were different than the one's they'd all left behind. The night sky was darker. Fewer points of light drifted through the inky blackness above. As though encouraged by the lack of surrounding competition, the moon was much brighter than he was used to. He had a few theories behind that, but it wasn't important enough to dwell on.

What _was _important enough to dwell on was their oh-so-sinister host. Something was wrong with him. Wilson couldn't put his finger on it, but he knew that Maxwell was playing a game with them. One that only he knew the rules to.

Frowning in concentration, the scientist closed his eyes in an attempt to focus. He could figure this out. He _would _figure this out. There was too much at stake for anything less.

What was it that disconcerted him so much right now? Was it his creepy attitude? No, that couldn't be it. Wilson had grown quite used to being looked down on by him. It wasn't the tests either; they fit pretty well with what he would have expected of Maxwell. It was something else. Something subtle.

His mind wrestled with this conflict, snatching at its slippery tail and struggling to drag it into the light. He created and discarded idea after idea, none of them fitting with what he knew about their captor. His subconscious refused to reveal it, fighting him every step of the way.

After what had felt like a miserable eternity of silent contemplation, the answer dawned over Wilson's head like a gathering storm cloud. His eyes opened slowly as he gave a light gasp.

It wasn't something Maxwell had been doing directly that had gotten under his skin. It was the things he'd been doing behind the scenes.

It was his inconsistencies.

Wilson had been pushed into the wormhole by a hand that the others had described as being made up entirely of shadows. Ignoring the impossible nature of such an occurrence (shadows aren't even a solid substance for crying out loud! They're the absence of light!), there was no doubt that such a thing would have had to come from Maxwell himself.

Such an action would imply that he'd wanted the scientist to fall in, perhaps even wanting him to create the divining rod. That however, didn't match up with their reception. Maxwell had seemed aloof at first, and in their second encounter he'd even looked unhappy. If he was the one who instigated the whole thing why would he be bothered by it? As far as Wilson could see, there were two main possibilities.

One; Maxwell wasn't behind his fall. Someone else was. It wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility. If he had so much power than it would stand to reason that there may be others like him. Creating worlds… tormenting innocents… maybe even harboring grudges and rivalries against each other. Had they been pulled into a turf war between two manipulative madmen?

While an interesting concept, something was missing from it.

The second one, and this scared him quite a bit; Maxwell was faking it. He'd proven to be capable and willing to mislead them in order to get what he wants, so the idea of him pretending that he had nothing to do with the device was entirely possible. If it was true, it held one major question.

Why?

What could he possibly gain by putting on an act? Did he think it would make them more cooperative if they believed they weren't following his directions? Wilson didn't know. Even though it was a likely prospect, something about it still didn't feel right.

Maybe… maybe he wasn't lying for their sake at all. Maybe he was looking to fool someone else. A chill that had nothing to do with the cold ran through Wilson's system at that thought. Was there someone else they didn't know about? Watching them? Watching _him?_ Who could do such a thing?

Rolling over onto his side once more, Wilson forcibly shut his eyes and curled up near the fire. The normally comforting warmth couldn't chase away the cold that had settled in his body.

Something was happening in the shadows. He didn't know what, he didn't know how, and he didn't know why. All he knew was that it was much larger than he could see. As the countless arrays of increasingly malignant scenarios played out inside his head, he became aware of something.

He'd been correct. It was a _very_ long night.


	18. Cold comfort part 2

**It has come to my attention that I neglected to put a disclaimer in the last chapter, so I have modified this one to hopefully make up for that.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters (x2)**

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><p>The bitter chill of winter wind swept through the snow-covered plains with the subtle bite of a thousand icy daggers. The wicked fingers of silent cold whipped across snow and ice, stealing the breath from any living thing unfortunate enough to be caught in its path. Everything save a small herd that milled about in the middle of the gust.<p>

Standing tall and unperturbed by the frigid air were several hairy creatures that distantly resembled buffalo. They meandered around, blinking lazily as they foraged for food. Their tough hooves made short work of patches of ice while their coats of fur blunted any assault from the raging wind. As they dug up the frozen grass buried beneath the polar blanket, their gaze drifted unhurriedly across the plains. There was no real need for them to be vigilant. They were larger than most predators, and few things were blatantly stupid enough to try bringing one of them down.

"That one there. With the broken horn." Wilson whispered, partially buried in snow as he took shelter behind the remains of a dead tree. The air was brutally cold, but the thought of food and warmth kept his spirits up. "It's hanging around at the edge of the herd. If we lure it away enough, then we'll be set for at least a few days."

"Is sound good." Wolfgang replied, attempting to whisper but only really speaking at a low rumble. "Hair cow look like tasty dinner."

The scientist nodded back with grim determination. It was a risky plan to pick a fight with something that looked like it could kill them just by sitting on them, but they were in dire need of survival supplies.

Shivering and pulling his grass-woven cloak around himself tighter, Wilson began edging forwards. He had to move slowly. If the whole herd spotted him, then his plan would be in jeopardy. As quietly as he could, he dragged himself over the miniature rises and dips in the snow.

"Just a bit closer…" He muttered to himself. He was now around ten yards away, upwind of the beast and still remained undetected. "Lure it out… Let Wolfgang whack it over the head a few times… Easy. Nothing simpler."

He regretted those words almost as soon as they left his mouth.

* * *

><p>Half an hour later found Wilson and Wolfgang dragging the heavily bludgeoned carcass of the beefalo through the snow and back towards camp. Though they'd managed to bring it down, the victory had come at a cost. They were almost unrecognizable as human to an outside observer.<p>

Slushy mud was splattered all over Wilson's body, coating him in a mixture of grey and brown colors. Several large hoof prints dotted the organic casing, with one prominent imprint over his left eye which was swollen shut.

Wolfgang hadn't been spared either. He walked with a heavy limp, slogging through the snow despite his numerous cuts and bruises. One vicious kick had left his voice several octaves higher for a time.

Finally, for reasons that they'd agreed never to speak of, both men bore the heavy stink of manure. All in all things had gone about as well as could be expected.

For the longest time, the only noises that either of them uttered were grunts of exertion as they struggled to drag the large creature behind them. Wolfgang did most of the work, but Wilson still managed to strain himself nearly to the point of exhaustion.

After a long silent struggle, the two were suddenly almost blown off their feet by a particularly powerful gust of wind. Huddling down to take shelter from the gale, Wilson looked up to see the sky turn an unnaturally dark color. The wailing windstorm continued for several moments before dissipating as quickly as it had begun.

"That would probably be Abigail." He commented, not really expecting an answer. Wolfgang nodded in response, too tired to do anything else.

The group had spent the better part of a week in this place already. It was a harsh world to try surviving in. The constant cold mixed with the lack of any easily accessible food was wearing them down little by little. Were it not for Willow's fire staff, they would probably have already perished from the unforgiving conditions.

Abigail's flower had recovered far faster than it had outside the doorway. Whether this was because she was growing more accustomed to breaking through to them, or because Maxwell had changed something to allow her back more quickly Wilson could only guess. Wendy had set numerous bird traps in the hopes of capturing one of the elusive blue flyers to act as a sacrifice for her sister's arrival. From the looks of things, she'd been successful.

Another ten minutes of walking brought the battered, weary, and nearly frozen pair of men stumbling back to their campsite. Sure enough, a familiar ghostly apparition was hovering about, seeming to stretch her incorporeal limbs while her living sister cleaned up the mess that had been made.

"Hey, you guys are just in time." Willow greeted, looking up from the moderately sized bonfire she'd been attending. "I was just about to start- _whoa!_ What happened to you? You look like you got into a fistfight with a building and lost."

Wilson shuddered. Right now, the last thing he wanted to do was relive the experience he'd just been forced to endure.

"If anyone ever tells you that wild cow creatures are slow and harmless, you have my permission to punch them in the mouth." He replied.

"Right…" She replied, turning her gaze to the beast they'd been dragging with them.

"Wow." Willow remarked, genuinely impressed. "That thing is huge! It could keep us fed for a week."

"It had better." Wilson said, scooping up a handful of snow and using it to wash away some of the less stubborn debris on his person. "It'll take at least a week for me to recover from that mess."

Wolfgang slowly made his way over to the fire, not saying anything as he shed his crown and dropped the club by his side. The scientist couldn't help but feel a twinge of concern at the state he was in.

Going without food had been hard on all of them, but none more so than the strongman. After just a week of heavily rationed supplies, he'd lost a considerable amount of weight. At this point he could only barely hold his weapon in both hands which he'd otherwise been able to swing about easily. While still very thick, his musculature was deteriorating far faster than was natural.

"What's going on in that twisted head of yours?" Willow asked, elbowing Wilson lightly to get his attention. "You aren't looking too great."

"Well, I did get trampled by one of the ugliest bovines I've ever seen." He said, earning a raised eyebrow in return. "But that isn't the issue right now. I've been thinking… maybe worrying is a better word… have you noticed strange things about us?"

Willow scoffed, giving him a half-amused and half-"you're just figuring this out now?" look.

"Strange?" She repeated. "Well, let's see. We've got a little girl who communes with the spirit of her dead sister, an avid pyromaniac, a scientific expert who can create things that defy all logic including his own, and a giant man-child who can't talk in complete sentences but still managed to bring down an army of tribal pig-men. I think strange may be an understatement at this point."

Wilson chuckled lightly at her honest reply. Putting it that way, his question did sound more than a bit silly. Still, there was something serious on his mind.

"True, but that wasn't what I was talking about." He began. "It's more of a situational thing. For example, look at Wolfgang. Can you honestly say it's normal to lose that much weight over such a short period of time? We've all gotten a bit skinnier, but he looks like he's been starved half to death."

She frowned, seeing the sorry state that he'd been reduced to after only seven or so days. Still, she seemed a bit skeptical.

"Sure he's a bit worse off than I'd expect, though maybe that's just the way he is." She offered. "I thought that he was just a glutton before, but he may actually need to eat that much. Wouldn't something like a… I don't know… heightened metabolism or something cause it?"

It was a possibility, but it didn't feel quite right. A metabolism that high didn't seem natural.

"Maybe." He conceded. "But that isn't the only thing. Take Wendy for example; she has an apparent sixth sense for things that are bordering on Ma… M… Mag… ugh, bordering on _non-science_. That isn't something that has an easy explanation."

The fire starter gave him an odd look as he stumbled over the word that he simply couldn't bring himself to use. Shaking her head, she gave a shrug.

"She and Abigail are twins right? And aren't twins supposed to have some sort of connection? Maybe being connected to her dead sister has something to do with it, or maybe she's just used to being around weird things. She does look like the kind of kid who would have grown up in a haunted house after all."

Wilson took the opportunity to sit down, resting his back against the partially frozen carcass behind him. He wanted to agree with her and say that he was just being paranoid, but he just couldn't.

"What about you?" He asked at last. "There was the incident in the forest. How exactly do you explain that?"

"You mean the one I hardly remember and get a migraine just trying to think about? You'll have to tell me on that one. I can't give my opinion on something I know nothing about."

"Fire sprung up from nowhere Willow! You turned into a living inferno!" He said, more harshly than he'd intended. Blowing out a sigh, his head leaned back into his furry pillow. "It's not just the world that's messed up, something's happening to us. Something that I don't understand. I want to just blame it all on Maxwell, but I don't even know if this is his doing or not."

She watched him silently for a minute or two. He didn't meet her eyes as his own gaze was focused on the sky but he could feel that she was starting to get unsettled.

"Listen." She said at last. "Maybe there is something crazy going on, but worrying about it right now won't help us. How about we start carving this thing up and get it cooking? That sound like a good idea? I'm sure it would be easier to think on a full stomach."

Willow offered a hand which he hesitantly accepted. With one strong pull, she brought him to his feet where he dusted off his pants. Wilson couldn't deny that the idea of eating something substantial for the first time in days was an appealing concept. Of course they had to skin and gut the thing first, and there was only one tool they had with them that was suited for such a task.

"You're getting that look again." Willow warned, prodding him in the side. "Didn't I just say not to worry? If we've got problems we'll deal with them when the time comes. Right now we just need to focus on staying alive."

"I know, I know." He assured. "It isn't that. It's something else. How about you get the fire nice and hot? I'll start on this… eh… cow thing and we can get cooking."

The prospect of making a larger fire instantly brightened her mood.

"Sure thing." She said. "I'll start piling on the logs. Be sure to give Wolfgang an extra-large helping. I think he needs it."

Wilson nodded even though she'd already turned away. Suppressing a shudder, he reached into his coat and drew out his knife. He'd done all he could to avoid looking at the cutting tool since his last encounter with it.

The more he examined the blade, the less at ease he was with holding it. Before his estranged self had decided to make some 'modifications', his knife had been starting to dull. Now, it bore a keen edge that looked brand new and had stayed perfectly sharp even though time should have worn it down.

And then of course, there was the gem.

By this point he knew full well that the gems were linked to unnatural powers. There had been a gem in Wolfgang's amulet, a gem in Willow's staff, and it wouldn't have surprised him if there was a gem in the divining rod. The one in his knife however, was different from the others.

The amulet had erupted in a massive burst of light, nearly blinding those who'd been watching. The staff also brightened when activated, though it was much less of a sudden burst and more of a sustained display. _His_ gem however, was doing the opposite.

The other two had given off light as they were activated. This one seemed to get darker. The purple depths of the jewel had taken on a new sinister appearance as they shunned the light and drew in the shadows. Even during the height of the day it still refused to brighten even the smallest amount.

It was building up to something, Wilson could tell that much at least. He didn't know what was going to happen, and in all honesty he didn't want to know. He would be perfectly content if it never became anything other than an ordinary knife.

Shaking his head to dispel the worrisome thoughts, he turned back to the body of the beefalo. It would take a long time to carve this thing up properly. If nothing else, he'd find out whether or not the never-dulling-edge could stand up to thick animal hide.

* * *

><p>Wendy typically had a very practical attitude when it came to survival. She wasn't above doing things that others considered revolting. When Wilson had announced that they were going to turn the animal skin from their dinner into new, warmer clothing, she hadn't so much as batted an eyelid at the concept. It was the logical thing to do after all.<p>

Now however, several days later when they'd finally managed to turn the heap of flesh into something resembling clothing, she was starting to have second thoughts.

"Well? How do I look?"

There were a lot of ways she could have answered that. Very few of them would have resembled anything complementary.

"Wilson…" She began, doing her best to avoid showing her growing distaste. "…Why did you sew the horns into it…?"

The scientist looked down at his newly made hat, frowning as he did so.

"Mostly just for the sake of using them." He said. "Why? What's wrong with having a pair of horns on it? I think they look cool. Don't you?"

_You look like the worst Viking ever._

Wendy was thankful that the dark of the night kept her expression largely hidden. Sitting near the edge of the firelight, she was only partially illuminated.

"It's… unique…" She offered slowly.

Wilson smiled, apparently misinterpreting her halting comment as approval.

"Don't worry." He said. "There's still plenty more of that thing to go around. I'll get started on a hat for you in the morning. I've even gotten a few ideas for other things to keep us warm. Picture this: a handheld stone that could retain the warmth of a fire over long periods of…"

Wendy nodded automatically, toning out much of his rambling words. So long as whatever he had planned for her didn't resemble the mound of ugly that he now wore on his head, she'd be content with it. She might be willing to help cut open something as disgusting as a mutated cow and even eat the tasteless, stringy, substance that was supposedly meat inside, but freezing was a more appealing option than wearing a hat like that.

"Hey! Mister genius man! I'm feeling a bit tired so would you mind taking first watch over the campfire tonight?"

Willow's voice interrupted the scientist's lengthy description of the nature of whatever invention he'd started thinking up. Blinking several times as he remembered where he was and what he was doing, he turned to give her a nod.

"Oh, yea sure." He said. "I'll do that. It should give me plenty of time to work out the kinks in my idea, maybe even get a bit of sewing done for the rest of the clothing we need."

The fire starter gave him a thumbs up before slumping down next to the fire. Wolfgang was already asleep. He'd improved a bit at first when they'd had a large amount of food from the hunt, but now that their supplies had started dwindling again he'd deteriorated as well. It was a disturbing thing to see, and another reason, along with the threat of wearing a cow hat, to get out of this world as soon as possible.

Wendy settled down in her own sleeping spot, using her pack as a pillow and drawing her own grass suit around herself tighter to help stave off the cold. Abigail took up a station nearby, offering a small amount of light though sadly she couldn't give any warmth to go with it.

Breathing out slowly, the girl let her eyes close and her mind start to drift. As she did so, she slowly became aware of a sound just on the periphery of her senses. She ignored it at first. Whatever it was, it probably wasn't all that important. It should go away after a while.

She got her first sense that something was off when the sound didn't simply go away. If anything, it got louder the longer she waited. Thoroughly annoyed by the thing that was determined to keep her awake, Wendy began concentrating to try and find out exactly what it was.

The more she focused the more she realized that it wasn't exactly a sound she was hearing but more of a feeling. Tiny tremors that echoed through the earth, getting progressively stronger with each passing moment. A knot of unease began to form in her stomach as she became more and more aware of it.

It was a steady rhythm, almost like the beating of a massive underground heart. She struggled to make sense of the odd sensation. It was something familiar. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she knew that it was something she heard often. As it got even stronger, realization suddenly struck her with the force of an oncoming train.

Footsteps.

Wendy was bolt-upright in an instant, startling Wilson with her sudden actions.

"We need to move!" She shouted. "Right now! We can't stay here!"

"Eh? We is leave now?" Wolfgang asked groggily, slowly awakening from her sudden outburst. Willow also got to her feet with concern on her face.

"What's wrong Wendy?" She questioned. "Did you have a bad dream or something?"

"Listen! Just listen!"

The nearly frantic tone in her voice must have made them understand that this was more serious than some childish fear. All three of them fell silent and did as they were told.

At first they didn't seem to notice it, but that changed quickly. Confusion and worry mixed on their faces as they detected the ominous sound.

"Please tell me that isn't what I think it is." Willow begged, looking around timidly at the shadow-smothered landscape. "Is there something out there?"

"N-No, can't be." Wilson insisted, shaking his head. "Something large enough to make an impact like that couldn't survive in a place like this. It would have to-"

His voice was suddenly drowned out by a massive chorus of panicked bellows. The wails of frantic beefalo echoed through the air only to be cut off with a massive crash that could be heard for miles around.

For a moment, there was silence. It didn't last long.

All four of the survivors felt panic grip them as a deafening roar shook the trees, reverberating through them like a verbal storm. It was a dreadful sound, low and heavy, being forcibly projected from some massive cavernous chest. They didn't need to be told that whatever had made the cry wasn't friendly.

"That sound bad!" Wolfgang shouted, trembling as he donned his crown and hoisted up his hammer. "What we do now? Where is there to go?"

"Stay by me!" Willow urged, ushering the group around her. "I can use my staff to make a light. Stay close, we need to get going before that thing gets here."

"Too late…"

Wendy's breathless remark brought a prickling sense of dread to the group. Turning to see what she was seeing, they were greeted by something out of their worst nightmares.

Wilson's mouth dropped open as his eyes took in the sight. A massive silhouette stood against the dimly moonlight night sky, towering above their feeble little camp as though they were nothing more than insects.

He could only stand there watching in terrified awe as am enormous limb was raised and began falling directly towards them.


	19. Cold comfort part 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

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><p>When she was just a small child, Wendy had found a peculiar book in her local library. Someone had been looking over it and simply left it on a table when they were finished. It was heavy, thick, and had far fewer pictures than most of the ones she'd been used to reading. Out of innocent curiosity she'd decided to see what was contained within the covers of a grown-up's story book.<p>

It had been boring at first. They were a collection of short stories whose complicated plots she couldn't follow. Each chapter used a lot of big words that she didn't understand yet, interspersed with references and themes that her young mind wasn't familiar with. For the most part she'd simply started flipping through the pages until she found a chapter that caught her eye.

One in particular had stuck with her for a long time afterwards.

In her rapid leafing of the pages she'd come to a sudden halt as a dreadful gaze fell upon her. Glaring up from the paper under her fingers was the face of a monster she'd not soon forget. It was shaped in black ink, the art style feeling very old. The creature was massive, muscular, and had a disturbingly large mouth that was filled with crooked, jagged teeth. Wendy didn't notice any of this. All she saw was that eye.

Dominating the center of the beast's head was a single, enormous eye that pierced straight through the book and into her mind. There was no thought or intelligence in it. No real awareness of its own existence. All that was held in that eye was anger. Deep, primal, vicious anger. A need to destroy and maim that not even the monster itself could understand.

It was the Cyclops. Though her repertoire of monsters had grown significantly since then, Wendy had never forgotten that one. It was the first creature that had ever made her feel genuine fear.

And now, years after having left that library and its literary bestiary, she was staring up at the real thing.

A massive hairy body balanced atop legs as thick as tree trunks scraped against the sky, filling her view. Pale white fur covered its abdomen and two gigantic antlers extended from the deer-like head, heightening its already daunting stature. Even though it looked so vastly different from the picture, there was no mistaking its identity.

The eye left no room for doubt.

Just as the Cyclops had been defined by the single rage-filled orb, so to was this creature. She could see the thin, dully colored iris that was stretched around the oversized pupil. She could see the unthinking desire for visiting destruction on those who had the misfortune of crossing its path. She could see the way its eye remained fixed on their position as it raised one of its arms upwards…

Wendy's survival instincts kicked back in as she realized the peril of remaining in her current position. Without stopping to think, she dove to the side. The colossal fist slammed down into the ground where she'd been standing, causing a deafening rumble and sending a wave of freshly pulverized snow and ice flying in all directions.

"Get back! Everyone get back!" Willow yelled, stumbling as the impact of the creature's attack nearly knocked her off her feet. She steadied herself by ramming her staff into the ground and leaning heavily on it.

"You're gonna regret that!" She shouted, glaring daggers up at the monster. "I hope you didn't have any plans for the rest of the day, because you're about to go up in flames!"

Bringing the staff up like a spear, she pointed the gem towards the titanic bulk of muscle and flesh standing above them. The jewel glowed brightly for a second before launching a bolt of molten flame directly at the beast's chest. A streak of light lit up the night for a brief moment before it made impact, exploding dead center and igniting a patch of the monster's fur.

It didn't even seem to notice.

It wasn't until the fire started to spread across its body that it looked down and took note. With a gesture that seemed more annoyed than panicked, it brought a gigantic hand sweeping over its chest and extinguished the fire as easily as one would a tiny match.

"Ah crap…"

The monster's hand shot out again, shoving the others aside as it closed around Willow. The fire starter barely had time to even start stumbling backwards when the clawed fingers wrapped around her. Her staff was crushed uselessly to her side as it lifted her high into the air.

"Willow!" Wilson shouted, jumping back to his feet. "Let her go!"

The giant took no notice of his protests, leaving him to shout helplessly as it raised her up to its face. The oversized eye in the middle of its forehead glowered balefully at the young woman in its grasp. Willow let out a strangled scream as its fist began to tighten around her.

In an attempt to save her, Abigail threw herself at its body. She lashed out in every way she could, sapping the life from every patch of flesh she came into contact with. It wasn't enough. The Cyclops chose to ignore her pitiful attacks while its grip continued to get tighter and Willow's pained shouts became weaker.

"_LET FIRE LADY GO!"_

Wolfgang's cry drowned out the beast's growling as he rocketed forwards. Despite not being at his peak strength, he still charged like a living engine of destruction. Howling furiously, he swung his massive club with all his might at the creature's ankle. The weapon struck with a mighty clang, nearly throwing its wielder off his feet as the force of the blow rebounded up his arms.

The monster paused its unnecessarily slow murder attempt. Blinking once, it looked down to see the man who was attacking its feet.

"Take this!" Wolfgang shouted, slamming his club down on one of its toes. "And this! And this! And that! And thi-"

Its free hand lashed out at lighting speed, slamming into his side and sending him hurtling into the air. The strong man flew like a ragdoll, smashing into the side of a tree before falling to the ground and laying still.

Wendy looked on in silent horror as it resumed its prolonged assault on Willow's torso. Wilson was shouting frantically, though she paid little attention to his words. She could only watch as her sister failed to catch the creature's attention and Wolfgang remained motionless in the snow at the edge of the camp.

She could only watch as it began to kill Willow.

Without stopping to think about what she was doing, the girl lurched towards the campfire and her pack. She ran as quickly as she could, darting dangerously close to the giant's legs as she did so. Thankfully it paid her no more attention than it did Abigail or the scientist.

Wendy tore her pack open in her haste, throwing the contents out in a disheveled heap on the ground. It only took a moment to find the thing she was looking for. Snatching the book she'd gotten from their last world out of the heap, she turned to face the gargantuan hairy beast once more.

Wendy didn't know what she was doing. She didn't have to know. Just like the first time she'd called Abigail back from the dead, she stopped thinking entirely and let instinct take over.

The pages seemed to fly open by themselves, responding to her desire and whipping across the book until it found the section she needed. She didn't pause to consider the consequences of her actions. All she knew was that she couldn't sit back and watch her friends die. Gazing down at the mysterious words inscribed into the book in her hands, Wendy began to read.

Once she started, it became impossible to stop. Words that were painful just to hear began pouring out of her mouth. The world shuddered as twisted syllables and haunting sentences took shape. As the last phrase formed and wrenched itself free from her throat, the sky convulsed like an animal in pain, hurling a bolt of lightning down on the head of the giant.

The creature's expression went from one of mindless anger to shocked agony as the blinding light struck it directly on the crown of its skull. It reflexively let go of Willow with a terrible howl, letting her fall into the snow as it raised its arms up to the damaged portion of its head.

Turning its massive bulk, it directed its murderous gaze down at Wendy. If looks could kill, she knew for certain that her entire body would have been atomized by that glare. Its singular eye was filled with a raw, unrelenting hatred that extended into the endless murky depths of its pupil.

Her mouth went dry. Her blood turned cold, and her entire body shook as though suffering in the midst of a windstorm. The creature drew itself up to its full height, looming like some horrific mountain of dark intent. Somehow it knew that she was the one that had caused its pain, and it had no intention of letting her get away with that.

Though her heart pounded against her chest so loudly she could hardly hear herself think, Wendy knew what she had to do.

"Abigail!" She screamed, turning in place and sprinting for her life. "I need you here _now!"_

The girl hurtled into the inky darkness that surrounded the camp, feeling the oppressive weight of the almost pitch black wall close around her form. She didn't dare stop or even slow down as a horrible sense of danger pricked at her sense. Just as the feeling of impending doom was about to reach its peak, the shadows suddenly drew back as Abigail's glowing form drew close to her.

Behind them, a roar like that of a mountain splitting apart shook the night air and threatened to tear the stars themselves from their skyline pedestals.

"Stay close to me!" Wendy ordered breathlessly. Her legs were burning already, but there was no room for weakness right now. Each step caused her to sink into the soft ground just enough to hinder her progress, and each patch of ice threatened to doom her with a short trip to the ground.

Another soul-rending howl tore through the air as the earth started to shake beneath her feet. It was giving chase. The thought of the gargantuan nightmare pursuing her caused her fatigue to evaporate instantly as a fresh wave of adrenaline stormed through her system.

Wendy felt like she was flying now. Her steps hardly seemed to touch the ground as she raced forwards at breakneck speed. She could feel the earth shake with each colossal footfall from the monster behind her, and each vibration urged her to even greater lengths. It had a much longer stride than she could ever hope to match. If she so much as hesitated, it would be upon her in an instant.

A long branch, previously hidden in the darkness, suddenly came into Wendy's field of view. She didn't have time to even consider avoiding the woody appendage, only managing to close her eyes and brace for impact as her momentum hurtled her directly through it. The branch shattered in a shower of splinters, cutting at her skin and ripping away her grass-cloak as she ran. The girl hardly even registered her makeshift blanket's absence, not slowing enough to feel the cold bite of the winter wind upon her newly exposed flesh.

As she stumbled from the impact of the tree limb, her foot came down to balance herself only to step into open air. Wendy let out a surprised shriek as she toppled forwards and fell headlong down the side of the hill she hadn't seen in her path. In a way, having her path obstructed had been a blessing. Had she been going at full speed, her tumble may very well have broken her neck on the way down.

As it was, she landed heavily in a snowbank at the bottom of the hill, all the breath being forced from her lungs in a loud expulsion of air. The book nearly went flying from her hands, but her fingers unconsciously latched onto it in a death-grip and held it firmly in place. Wendy had only a brief moment to regain her senses before a hairy comet soared overhead, blotting out the light of the stars and moon before slamming down onto the earth. Having landed flat on its feet, the creature merely had to do a half turn before it was able to resume the chase.

Wendy was up and running again in an instant, her mind no longer taking time to consciously consider her actions. Seeming to sense her desperate plight, the heartless sky opened up and snow began drifting down on her head. The seemingly harmless white powder showed its true nature when it obscured her vision and made the already dangerous run that much more treacherous.

Her throat was raw from the burning cold gasps that she greedily inhaled. Every step was getting harder to make than the last. It was closing in on her, she knew that much. The only advantage she had was that the monster's size prevented it from accelerating quickly. Even so, that only applied until it managed to get going.

Abigail darted in front of her without warning, the ghost's urgent noises tearing through the haze of panic that had been clouding Wendy's mind. The girl dug her feet into the snow, letting out a cry as she ground to a halt on the slippery surface. It took only a moment for her to see what her sister had been blocking off.

No more than an arm's length in front of her was a sheer cliff. It appeared that even here they lived on an isolated island.

The steep rocky outcropping descended straight down into a violent ocean, jagged boulders decorating the base. Had she kept going for even a moment longer she'd have run right off the edge.

A roar from behind her signaled that the enormous beast was still giving chase. Somehow it had managed to fall behind at some point along the way.

Wendy stared out into the darkened snow flurries that obscured her vision beyond a couple of yards. A choked sob threatened to break free from her chest as she realized that she had nowhere else to go. She was trapped between a ravenous monster and a fatal fall.

It was in that moment that she understood something she'd long ago assumed she's stopped caring about. Standing here, facing down some unspeakable horror from a world that broke down all the natural laws, Wendy was absolutely certain of one thing.

She didn't want to die.

It was with the frantic energy of a cornered animal that she pulled the book open once more. Her hands, now almost numb with the cold, tore through the pages until it came to the one she needed once more. For the second time that night, the words of power written down by one who'd come before took shape in her voice.

The sky began to rumble as the giant came into view. Driven by its need to crush the one who'd caused it pain, it lunged forwards towards her. Just as it began to raise its massive arm for a bone crushing swipe, she finished the spell.

A second streak of lightning tore through the air as though fired by the hand of Zeus himself. The bolt of electricity struck the monster directly in its single, enormous eye, sending a gooey shower of vile substance outwards. A sickening howl of anguish filled the air as the creature's momentum carried it forwards. It swung wildly and without thought, lashing out as it struggled to find her in its now blinded state. Two more steps brought it over her position, narrowly missing crushing her beneath its feet. One more brought it over the edge.

A startled wail sounded from its malformed mouth as its feet stepped out into open air. The giant twisted its body in an attempt to regain its footing on the cliff, but only succeeded in overbalancing itself. It toppled headfirst into empty air, a drawn out cry of pain and anger trailing its descent until that was cut off by a loud splash.

Wendy stared openmouthed at the spot where her pursuer had gone over. It took several moments for the full weight of what had just happened to sink in. When it did, she collapsed as sheer relief flooded her system.

"I'm still alive!"

She had never felt this light before. The understanding that she wasn't about to meet a gruesome end was like an intoxicating drug that made everything seem bright and joyous.

"I'm…"

As she turned to look back at the path she'd taken, the feeling of euphoric hope evaporated in an instant. The snowfall, soft, unassuming, and subtle, was filling in her footprints. Even the massive indentations made by the Cyclops creature were being steadily erased as though they'd never existed in the first place.

"…lost…"

Wendy hardly registered Abigail's concerned presence as the cold nature of her situation hit her. She was being hunted by a monster of a different kind, and there would be no running from this one.

She wrapped her arms around her around herself as she started to shiver. The predator was closing in.

* * *

><p>"What's going on!?" Wilson demanded, halting his ragged march with no small amount of reluctance. "Why did you stop? We need to keep moving!"<p>

"Don't you think I'm trying?" Willow snapped back. She was looking nothing short of haggard at this point. "In case you didn't know, it's _really _difficult to breathe with a bruised ribcage!"

After Wendy had fled into the night with their unwelcome intruder hot on her heels, the three of them had wasted no time in going after them. The thought of the girl being left to the mercy of such a terrible creature had left no hesitation in their purpose. Problems had quickly arisen almost as soon as they'd started heading out.

Wolfgang was in a bad way. The blow he'd taken had left him dazed and only partially aware of what was going on around him. He was likely concussed, and the crown he'd taken from the pig-king may very well have been the only thing that had kept his head in one piece when he'd been hit. At the moment, the strongman had one arm slung heavily over Wilson's shoulders and stumbled along as he guided them both.

Willow wasn't much better. Nearly being crushed was bad enough, but she was also the one keeping their path lit with her staff and was only just now learning the price of using such a tool for prolonged periods of time. The more the fire in the gem burned the more her skull felt like it was going to split open. Her vision had already started fraying at the edges.

"We can't keep going like this." She said, gripping the staff tightly just to stay standing. "I can't keep moving forward and keep this thing lit at the same time. It just won't work. If we keep going, the fire will go out and we'll all be stranded in the dark."

"Stranded in the dark?" Wilson questioned in disbelief. "Wendy's out there right now! _She's _stranded in the dark! Are you seriously saying that we should just leave her out there!?"

"That isn't what I meant and you know it!" The fire starter shouted, the strain of maintaining her concentration clear in her voice. "I want to help her just as badly as you do, but if we keep going like this we'll only end up dying out there."

"Find who now?' Wolfgang asked dazedly. "Where is small girl child? Could have sworn was one around somewhere. Is she look for ax?"

Wilson didn't want to admit it, but he knew she was right. They'd be no help to Wendy in their current state. If they kept pressing forwards like this…

"Stay here." The scientist said, gently dropping his half-conscious charge to the ground. "Give me your lighter and all the spare wood and grass cuttings we have."

"What are you doing?" Willow questioned. He didn't answer at first; instead focusing on taking stock of the supplies he had with him.

"I'm going after her." He said at last. "I don't have a torch so I need your lighter. You stay here and watch over Wolfgang until he recovers. When he does, I want the two of you to come find us. Understand?"

Despite the fact that he'd posed it as a question, there was no doubt as to what answer he'd accept. He _was_ going, and Willow could see that clearly enough. She silently handed him the lighter and unslung her own pack.

"Be careful." She urged softly.

He merely nodded in response. Flicking open the tiny device, he brought the flame inside to life. It created a miniscule amount of light but it should be more than enough for the task he had in mind. With one more look over to Willow and Wolfgang, he continued after their lost companion.

_Hang on Wendy._ He thought silently to himself, bracing his body against the falling snow. _I'm coming. Just hang on._


	20. Cold comfort part 4

**Poppies - Thank you for the encouragement and kind words. I was honestly surprised when I saw that there was only a hundred stories for Don't Starve. It seems like the kind of fandom that would have a lot more than that. I'll do my best to keep living up to expectations.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

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><p>Cold. Dark. Cold. Snow. Quiet. Cold. Empty.<p>

Wendy's mind was having starting to have trouble processing even the most basic of stimuli. Conscious thought had long since left her, and now she was hardly even aware of Abigail's worried presence at her side. Her departed sister knew that something was terribly wrong, but she was helpless to do anything about it. She couldn't directly aid the freezing girl and leaving her to go find help would have been a death sentence even without the things that lurked in the dark. Her light was the only thing keeping Wendy safe right now.

Limbs numb, awareness clouded, and body starting to fail, the young blonde slogged through the ocean of white powder. Her entire frame shook with shivering that made her teeth jar painfully against one another. She strove forward regardless, no longer even fully aware of why she was moving. There had been a goal at one point, but the nature of it was long gone from her mind.

After an indiscernible amount of time, her footsteps came to a halt. She swayed gently while trying to figure out exactly what it was that had caught her attention. Several more moments and her fatigued eyes were able to make out the shape of a large rock outcropping with a small cavern cut into the side.

Cave. Shelter. Warm.

Wendy's mind clung to the simple concepts, causing her to push forwards once again. It was funny how the idea of getting out of the wind and cold could have such an effect. Had she been more cognizant she might have noticed the sudden drive towards the opening. As it was, she merely continued onwards in her near catatonic state with the same single-mindedness that she'd had previously.

* * *

><p>"Wendy! Where are you!? Can you hear me!? Say something!"<p>

Wilson's shouts echoed into the night, returning as nothing but silence as they drifted away. With Willow's lighter clutched tightly in his palms, he'd been searching for the better part of an hour with little success. The lack of light made following the tracks of the giant much more difficult, and the snowfall was quickly erasing the trail.

The scientist cursed under his breath as a stiff breeze whipped across his body and hurled snowflakes into his face. He huddled over the tiny flame of the lighter, not for warmth but to keep the flickering source of illumination alive in the gale.

When the wind died down, he was once again left standing in the dark with no idea how to go on. He couldn't stay still as every passing moment put Wendy in more danger. He couldn't keep going like this either as the cold was already starting to seep through his trifling defenses. His fur hat kept his head warm enough, but the rest of him was woefully under insulated against the elements.

With a miserable sigh, he continued pressing on after the rapidly vanishing trail.

_Maybe she slipped away from that thing. _He thought to himself, trying to keep his hope alive. _She's small, and she can be quick when she needs to be. She must have right? Otherwise I should be able to hear it stomping around. Come to think of it, shouldn't I hear it anyway? _

As his thoughts turned to the mysterious absence of noise, he became dimly aware that something was off. Wilson stopped short, peering into the darkness in order to determine what was nagging at the back of his mind. In the poorly lit snow world, it almost felt like the shadows were starting to close in on him.

With a start, he realized that was _exactly_ what they were doing.

Wilson's eyes shot down towards his palms with dread rising in his throat. His fears were confirmed when he saw the dwindling fire of the lighter as it began to waver. Three minor flickers, a shuddering sputter, and suddenly the tiny blaze went out, plunging him into almost total blackness.

"No, no, no!" He shouted, desperately trying to flick the device back to life. "Not now! You can't just die on me now! You've been working for so long; you can't just run out of fuel now!"

The metallic object, being inanimate and thus having no concept of mortal peril or human assumptions, failed to relight itself. It gave off minute amount of light with each spark that was shaped by the grinding metal parts, but the oil inside had been burned away.

A chilling dread ran through his system as he realized the futility in trying to reignite what had long since burned out. The darkness fell upon him like an avalanche, smothering, covering, drowning, and absolute. The meager light of the stars and moon did next to nothing to pierce it.

Wilson closed his eyes, bringing the lighter up to his forehead and silently fighting to keep his breathing in line. Panic wouldn't help him now. He needed to figure out a new way to create light. There were still the supplies in his backpack, and the lighter was giving off sparks when he struck it, maybe he could craft a hasty torch to help light his way? Yes, that sounded like the best course of action.

He stowed the near-useless tool away and started reaching around to remove his pack when something stopped him. It wasn't a noise, or a smell, or even a physical sensation. It was more of a sudden alertness. The subconscious warnings of possible trouble.

Someone was watching him.

"Wendy? Is that you?" The scientist called, hope rising tentatively in his chest. There was no answer, but the presence of the other being became significantly more pronounced. A sharp sense of danger entered his mind, wiping away all other concerns and making it painfully clear that whoever this was, it wasn't one of his friends.

Wilson knew he was in trouble when the darkness started moving.

"What in the world…"

It didn't seem possible but the shadows grew even thicker, blotting out the miniscule ambient light of the night sky and cascading around him in a wave of impermeable emptiness. He was helplessly swept along in its tide, being hurled around in the whirling void while remaining firmly in one place.

When the attack came, it came without warning. He'd been just about to open his mouth to try calling out again when a sudden, brutal impact stole the breath from his lungs. Five vicious points of agony tore through his body as some invisible limb whipped across his midsection and hurled him to the ground. A startled cry left him only to be drowned out by the sound of tearing as the appendage shredded through his clothing like paper.

Wilson tumbled into a snowbank, the icy cold of the frozen powder hitting his skin in stark contrast to the warm liquid that was now dripping across his front. For a brief span of time his ragged gasps were the only sound that disturbed the unnatural stillness of the world around him.

His reprieve didn't last long.

The rush of air as a phantom limb swung towards him was the only thing that saved his life. Hearing the coming danger, he rolled to the side just as the deadly appendage slammed into the ground where he'd been laying just a moment ago. Though blinded by the dark, he felt the spray of pulverized snow splash across his body as the impact sent it flying.

Spinning in place, Wilson ran. It was the only thing he could think to do against an opponent he couldn't see. Though his body flared up in pain with every step, the primal drive for self-preservation pushed him forwards. It no longer mattered which direction he was going so long as it was away from that thing.

His flight was cut short as the creature struck again. Though he hadn't heard it move from its previous position, it lashed out and crashed into his side. The blow was like being hit by a truck. All sense of direction was blasted out of him as he was sent careening to the ground once more. Whatever this thing was, it was far faster than he could hope to be.

Ignoring the screaming protest of his tattered body, he rose drunkenly to his feet. Each movement caused a new trickle of blood to leak down his front. Each breath felt like a thousand tiny needles ravaging his lungs. He couldn't give up now. It couldn't end like this. Not while Wendy was still out there alone, not while Maxwell was watching their every move, and certainly not while they were trapped in this world.

Wilson did the only thing he could think to do. Reaching into his pocket, he drew out his knife.

Gripping the chilly handle sent unpleasant tingles up his spine, not unlike the touch of hundreds of tiny spiders. Doing his best to ignore the disturbing sensations, he planted his feet firmly into the ground and strained his ears to detect any hints of when the next attack would come. It soon proved to be an exercise in futility.

Seemingly encouraged by the constant contact, the uncomfortable feeling increased tenfold. He gasped sharply as he felt the familiar pain of dark tendrils burrowing into the confines of his skull. His hands shook violently and his teeth bit down so hard that he was worried they might crack, but he refused to let go. He needed the weapon. Sensing his resistance the worm-like shades pushed harder, ripping away at defenses. They wrapped around each other, piercing through his mind and digging deeper until, with neither rhyme nor reason, they _twisted._

Even with all the scientific knowledge and his advanced vocabulary Wilson could not have accurately described what happened next even if his life depended on it. It was as though the fabric of reality had suddenly wrenched ninety degrees to the side, smashing him with an almost unbearable feeling of vertigo. Reeling from the distortion, he could only watch helplessly as the shadows lunged towards him like a hungry animal.

Shockingly enough, no surge of pain followed them. The darkness whipped around his body almost like a raging wind. Though the substance couldn't possibly have been solid, he felt it conform to the shape of his body and even run across his fingers and over his knife. Once it reached the tip of the blade, instead of stopping, it continued to extend, broadening its surface until it reached almost a meter in length.

The shroud of blackness that had been condensing around his body came to a halt, leaving him draped in an inky fabric. In his hand, instead of his simple blade, was long, curved scimitar made of the same substance that his new clothing was.

Wilson was very grateful that it was too dark to see anything, because he was willing to bet that he looked fairly stupid with his mouth hanging open in uncomprehending shock.

Without thinking, his entire body lurched to the left, narrowly avoiding being carved open as his hidden foe swung at him from the shadows. His arm, driven by a will that felt alien to his own, swung the sword diagonally. He felt a very minor amount of resistance as it sliced across the limb.

A wail that was equal parts pain and surprise filled the air as his weapon made contact. He couldn't see his attacker, but it was almost like he didn't need to. He could _feel_ it with an unnatural precision.

Taking several steps backwards, he brandished the weapon in his assailant's direction. After the initial screech, it had lapsed back into total silence. Wilson's grip tightened around the haft of his blade as he felt a drop of either melted snow or sweat drip down into his eye. Though he couldn't actually see with it, he didn't dare blink the offending liquid away or rub it off for fear of provoking another attack.

Seconds ticked by, stretching into minutes. Neither of them budged in the slightest. Though still battered and bleeding, Wilson's body was held up by a strength that hadn't been there previously.

After what felt like an agonizing eternity, the mysterious creature drew away and vanished into the night in search of less dangerous prey. The tip of the scientist's sword slowly lowered, ready to be brought back up at a moment's notice. When the light of the moon and stars once again shone through the previously impermeable veil, his shoulders sagged in silent relief.

_Stop standing around. You've still got a job to do._

Coated in an armor of darkness, Wilson turned and continued down the path he'd originally been following. Fatigue no longer bit at his heels or threatened to drag him down. Fear was an emotion that he couldn't rightly understand anymore.

Driven forwards with a pure sense of purpose, he dove back into the dark.

* * *

><p>He didn't know how long he'd been walking for. Minutes. Hours. Days. Perhaps even months or years. Who's to say that the light of the sun hadn't simply extinguished itself and thrown this place into an eternal night? He didn't know how long he'd been walking, but he didn't care. The cold didn't bother him anymore.<p>

Wilson pushed through the hard-packed snow without pause or hesitation. He no longer felt the need to stop and rationalize what was happening.

He moved, therefore he was.

That was why it came as no surprise to him when he eventually spotted the faintest shimmers of light coming from a cave in the distance. Maybe the same force that had aided him during the fight had directed him here. Maybe it was just sheer dumb luck. It didn't matter what the reasoning behind it happened to be.

It happened, therefore it was.

A couple more minutes of walking brought him to the entrance. The sight inside was one of the most pitiful he'd ever seen.

Wendy lay stripped of her grass-woven cloak, leaving her almost entirely exposed to the elements. She was curled in a ball, gripping her legs close to her in an attempt to stave off the encroaching cold.

She wasn't moving.

Abigail, who'd been hovering and mewling softly over her sister, turned sharply at Wilson's entrance. Even without physical features to read, it was obvious that the ghost terrified. Whether it was for her sister's safety or because of his ominous appearance he couldn't tell.

"That's enough of that then…"

He didn't know why he spoke the words out loud, but the moment they left his mouth a painful wrenching sensation tore into the back of his head. He could feel it as the slimy sickening tendrils of wretched energy dragged themselves out of his mind and sank back into the jewel embedded in his knife. The shadows surrounding him and coating the blade quickly followed suit, diving into the depths of the gem and painting it a dark purple, only a couple shades off of midnight-black.

Wilson collapsed to his knees, gasping for air as though he'd just surfaced from beneath an ocean. He reflexively dropped the knife and scrambled as far away from it as he could get. Now that it was no longer invading the sanctity of his psyche, he could feel a million frantic questions clambering to be heard in a discordant cacophony playing out inside his head.

Struggling to avoid emptying his stomach on the floor, he drove all of them away. There was something more important he needed to focus on right now.

He rose back up to his feet, at least for the moment, and shambled his way over to Wendy's side. Abigail looked to him pleadingly as he knelt down beside her.

Wilson's first instinct was to try and massage her limbs to get the blood flowing once more, but some part of his mind held him back.

_Core first. Then extremities. Warming the arms and legs will cause a sudden rush of cold blood to flood her system. _

He nodded at his own thoughts, remembering just what kind of effects a frozen wasteland could have on the human body. Taking off his pack, he upended it and spilled its contents on the floor in front of him. After a few moments of work, he'd brushed away the small amount of snow that had blown into the cave and cleared a space to work with.

Sticks, branches, grass, and other flammable plant materials were all laid out in front of him. He piled them together to create a miniature campfire in the space he'd cleared. Now all he needed was a way to ignite them.

Reaching into his pocket, he drew out Willow's used up lighter. The bitter cold had robbed his fingers of feeling, but after several moments of blundering he managed to get a firm grip on it and work one of them over the striker.

_Come on. _Wilson silently prayed. _Just a spark. That's all I need. Just a spark…_

His hand was shaking so he brought his other one over to steady his grip. Clutching the small metal contraption, he lowered it over his newly-made tinder pile and flicked the switch. At first nothing happened, but after four or five attempts he was rewarded with a small flickering spark catching.

Putting the lighter away, the scientist lowered himself and began lightly blowing on the tiny ember with light breaths. Just enough to give it oxygen. If he accidentally blew it out, things would go very badly for both of them.

Much to his relief, the glowing light became a miniscule flame which quickly worked into a small but steady fire.

His first task taken care of, Wilson turned to Wendy. He stripped off his own cloak and wrapped her up in it as tightly as he could before lifting her up and bringing her over to the edge of the fire. She was still breathing, but her body felt terribly cold even to his own chilled touch. Even after physically carrying her she still lay unresponsive in his grip. He knew that she had issues with personal space, but survival took priority over comfort. Wrapping his arms around her bundled form, he did everything he could to ensure that she was sheltered from the winter air.

"Abigail?" He called, his voice cracking as the bitter cold stung his throat. "I need you to go find the others."

The ghost let out a noise of refusal, shaking her head quickly and hovering closer to the pair. She wasn't about to leave her sister in such sorry shape.

"Listen to me." He said, straining to speak. "They have more supplies with them. All I've got is what I was able to carry. Wendy needs more than just a small fire if she's going to get better. This one will keep us warm for a little while, but if she's going to make it y_ou need to find them._"

She wanted to protest. He could see it painted clearly on her shifting form. Even so, she knew what he said was true. After a bit of hesitation, Abigail made for the entrance and shot off into the night. The sooner she brought Willow and Wolfgang, the sooner she could go back to watching over Wendy.

The scientist sagged heavily as she departed. Now that he'd done everything he could for the moment, all the fatigue and stress of the past few hours hit him full force. He was too tired to even try pondering over the creature in the dark and his knife's convenient intervention.

_Can't fall asleep now…_ He thought to himself, struggling to keep his eyes open. _Too cold… Body temperature… drops… too low… have to watch… over… _

It was a losing battle. After only a couple pitiful minutes of resistance, his eyelids fell as though dragged down by the weight of a mountain.

Desperately clutching Wendy's deathly-still form to his chest, he fell asleep.

* * *

><p>"Damn it! I knew it wasn't a good idea to let him go off on his own like that!"<p>

Wilson became distantly aware of a voice. It sounded someone he'd spoken to before. Crass, but still feminine. He wished it would go away. He was too tired to talk right now.

"Little girl is look like baby all wrapped up."

Another voice. Male, deep, unrefined. Also someone he knew. There was a wispy, practically ethereal sound that accompanied them, but he couldn't focus enough to determine exactly what it was.

"And look back there. Do you think they actively found that or was it just luck?"

He was so cold, but more than that he was exhausted. Couldn't they see that they were making it hard for him to sleep when they were practically talking in his ear like that?

"Here. Help me get them over to the doorway. I'll get Wendy, you get Wilson."

"Is that good idea?"

"We don't have much of a choice. The longer they stay here, the worse they'll get. Whatever's on the other side can't be any more dangerous than this place. I'll grab the knife and other supplies. No sense leaving them behind."

There was a sudden tug as one of the people leaned down to pull the object Wilson had been holding to his chest. In a surge of panic, he reflexively tightened his grip as much as his weary limbs would allow. He didn't remember what it was, but he knew it was important.

"Hey! Wilson! Easy there, it's just us!"

He groaned, unable to make any sound other than that. Despite his best efforts he was simply too weak to keep a hold of the item. It was pried out of his grip.

"All right, I've got her. Hoist him up quickly. We have to hurry."

"Hold on science man! We save you now."

A pair of meaty arms gripped Wilson under his shoulders and lifted him upwards. The action spurred him to crack one of his eyes open. He was greeted by the blurry outline of two… no… three figures all headed towards what looked to be some kind of wooden slab. The third figure was hovering an inch above the ground.

"Time to get the heck out of this place."

One of the figures reached out, pulling on some part of the wooden construct. Almost immediately the device seemed to split in two, revealing a swirling vortex of unidentifiable energy.

"Brace yourself."

Another pair or arms extended out from the doorway and took a hold of him. To zoned out to even process what was happening, Wilson simply allowed himself to be dragged along. The limbs pulled him into the opening and suddenly he wasn't there anymore. He was falling. Weightless. It was a rather unpleasant, though strangely familiar experience.

With nothing else to do, the scientist closed his eyes and waited for the jostling ride to end.


	21. Unnatural selection part 1

**By this point, it has become apparent that my update schedule is full of holes. Sadly, that seems unlikely to change for a little while. I apologize to everyone who is reading, but things are unlikely to improve in the near future. Especially at the end of August since I'm going to be moving during that time. I just wanted to give fair warning that my update schedule is going to have to be changed from Thursday/Friday to 'whenever I can' and to ensure that, even if I don't update for a while, I have no intention of dropping this story. I have everything planned out so I'm going to see it through to the end. **

**Disclaimer: That aside, I still don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters **

* * *

><p>Head spinning, body aching, and stomach threatening to spill over, Wendy groaned in discomfort. The flooring beneath her was painfully bumpy, feeling suspiciously like a pile of rocks. And by suspiciously, she meant exactly. A blast of jagged wind whipped across her face, prompting her to force one eye open.<p>

A dusty barren landscape lay in front of her. The ground was largely stone with a few dustings of soil being blown around by the wind. In addition to that, it was sickeningly hot out. The first world they'd been forced to run through had been humid, but this one was sweltering. The sun beat down on her head with merciless consistency and stole away every drop of condensation.

It was strange though. She didn't recall them having traveled to another world. The last thing she remembered was being surrounded by snow and running. She'd been frightened of something. Vague shapes of glowering eyes and towering figures danced at the edges of her mind. There was running… a cliff… and something else.

Cold.

Realization hit Wendy so hard that her head started spinning. Darting upright, a surge of borderline panic raced through her system.

She'd been lost in the freezing weather, at the mercy of the landscape in the dead of the night. Just thinking back, she was able to recall the dread which had steadily given way to a kind of chilling emptiness as the frigid air seeped into her being.

But how had she gotten here? Her mind was distantly aware of having taken shelter in a cave at some point, but there was nothing beyond that. Was this some other trick of Maxwell's twisted worlds?

A sudden echoing voice snapped her out of her questioning state. Before she'd had time to register where the noise had come from Abigail was swirling around her at dizzying speed, her spectral eyes alight with both worry and relief.

Coming to a halt in front of Wendy, she paused long enough to wrap two incorporeal limbs around the surprised blonde's shoulders.

"It's all right Abigail…" She assured, unconsciously returning the gesture in an awkward manor due to being unable to hug anything physical. "I'm fine, see? Please, hold on for a moment. Where are we? What happened?"

"Wendy!"

For the second time in as many minutes, the girl was caught off guard by an unexpected voice. She turned in time to see Willow rush to her side and wrap her in another, significantly more suffocating, embrace.

"Thank god you're all right!" She exclaimed, not seeming to notice the way Wendy tried to wriggle out of her grasp. "Do you have any idea how worried we were!? What were you thinking!? When we found you and Wilson we thought…"

With a final twist, Wendy managed to escape from the invasive gesture. She coughed lightly, taking a moment to regain her composure before facing the concerned fire starter. When she did it was with an expression of sincere apology.

"I'm sorry if I frightened you." She offered. In truth, she hadn't been thinking enough at the time to even really register what the others might think about her actions. "But… I had to do something to stop that… that _thing_ before someone else got hurt. I- wait, did you say Wilson? What happened to Wilson?"

Looking over the young woman's shoulder, she caught a glimpse of the others. Wolfgang was working to help the scientist to his feet. He looked just as dazed as she felt, blinking vacantly while observing everything with a slackened look on his face. At least, until he saw her.

"Wendy!"

Without pausing to properly get his bearings, he darted over to her side with obvious intent.

"That's enough!" She hastily shouted, sounding far shriller than she'd intended. The threat of having her personal space violated so many times in such short order did little to help her mood. "Will someone please tell me what's going on?"

"It's not that hard to figure out if you'd bother to pay attention."

With a start, all five pairs of eyes all spun around to face the uninvited guest. Maxwell, regal as ever, stood a short distance away. His gaze fixed them all on the spot as a sharp frown cut across his features. The coat he'd worn earlier was gone, but his pique was even stronger than before.

"You should be very pleased with yourself little girl." He offered, making a sarcastic bow. "Very few people live past an encounter with the deerclops, much less kill one. Though in all fairness I suppose gravity did most of the work."

Before any of them could remark on his comment, he turned and jabbed an accusing finger towards Wilson causing him to jump at the attention.

"As for _you_." Maxwell snarled, glaring daggers. "I ought to have your limbs removed for what you did to Charlie! If you want to start making fancy blades that's your time, but don't you _dare_ start using them against her!"

The sight of genuine anger on their normally condescending host caused the group to lapse into silence. The puppet master drew himself up after a moment, taking a breath to calm his nerves as patted down the wrinkles in his clothing. Before anyone could think to ask him to clarify what a 'Charlie' was, he went on.

"Well, if nothing else you lot have managed to survive another world." He commented, taking on an expression of mild disinterest. "No need to worry about the lingering effects of hypothermic shock. The rules prevent things like that from carrying over. However, this little test should be a nice change of pace from what you're used to."

A small, almost predatory smile fixed itself on his face as he gestured to the nearly-barren wasteland around them.

"I'm quite proud of this one actually." Maxwell remarked. "The first two were nice, don't get me wrong, but this one has an actual twist to it. Previously, you're only goal was to survive and follow that little noise box of yours. Speaking of which, you might want to look down."

Too off balance to do anything else, Wilson obeyed the suggestion and turned his gaze to the ground. Lying between himself and Wolfgang was the divining rod which had been left behind after their camp had been attacked.

"You'll want to keep a hold of that. Consider it an unfair advantage." Maxwell said with a conspiratorial wink. "As I was saying, this place is a bit different. You're on a clock. If you look around, you'll find next to no natural resources whatsoever. That isn't merely an unfortunate starting position. There are little pickings to be had. Since you've just come from somewhere with very little food, the rules dictate that you need to be given _some_ supplies. But when those are gone you're out of luck."

"Is rules now?" Wolfgang questioned, scratching the side of his crown in confusion. "I not see rulebook anywhere. How is supposed to follow them?"

Maxwell chuckled, shaking his head at the simplicity of the question.

"No need to worry, _you _don't have to bother learning the rules." He said. "That's for me to concern myself with. All you need to focus on is getting through this one as quickly as possible. Not that it's that simple of course…"

At this point, he turned his back to the group and his image began to fade.

"You stand at the entrance to the gauntlet. It's a good thing that the lot of you have picked up some new toys along the way, because you're going to need every bit of muscle you can muster."

"I has _ALL _muscle!" Wolfgang shouted as he disappeared into thin air like he had so many times before. "I is pure muscle! Little world cannot stand before amount of muscle I have! You wait tiny man, I give many punches when I find you!"

Aside from the strongman's continued declarations of might, no sound came from the survivors. Wendy didn't know what to think. She'd been sure that there would be no more hope of escaping after the bitter cold had begun seeping into her body. How the others had managed to not only find her, but find the exit in time as well was something she hadn't thought to be possible on such short notice.

She started to move forwards in order to retrieve the divining rod only to draw back when her foot hit something. Looking down, she was surprised to find that three large chests had appeared from seemingly nowhere in their midst. Each one was filled to the brim with all manner of foodstuffs.

For several moments, none of them spoke. It was Willow who eventually broke the silence.

"Well, I still have enough supplies with me from earlier to get us a decent fire." She said. "How about we cook some of this up and fill each other in on what happened back there. I'm still missing some details and I can imagine you are also."

A chorus of affirmative noises, or in Wolfgang's case the sound of drooling, answered her suggestion.

* * *

><p>"Those didn't last long, did they?" Willow asked, peering down at the remaining food items from their initial piles. The boxes had looked like they'd be enough to keep the group going days on end, but looks had been deceiving. Of the three chests, only a third of the last one still held anything edible. Her fire had already burned down to embers, having served its purpose admirably by cooking up the best meal they'd had since entering the door for the second time.<p>

Wolfgang let out an obnoxiously loud belch before leaning back with a massive grin on his face.

"Is more like it!" He declared, using a fingernail to pick out leftovers from between his teeth.

In a startling, and highly disturbing, turn of events, the strongman had regained an absurd amount of mass during the feast. The only thing that kept the others from being perturbed by his growth was their engrossment in hearing each other's stories. By the time they'd all finished eating, everything from Wendy's flight in the night and Wilson's possessed knife and duel with the monster had been shared.

Willow had the less glorious story of dragging around a half-conscious Wolfgang who had decided that reciting poorly pronounced limericks was the best way to help things along.

Wilson stared up at the sky silently. He hadn't said much other than to explain what had happened on his end since they'd started talking. Deciding that she'd had enough of his distant presence, Willow elbowed him in the side.

"So when do you plan on catching up to the rest of us?" She joked, trying to make light of the situation. "Wolfgang took on an army of pig-men, Wendy brought down a giant, and you guys keep telling me about how I burned down a bunch of angry trees. What monstrous hoard do you plan on facing?"

The scientist grimaced as though he'd bitten into something foul.

"It isn't funny you know." He said somberly, casting a sidelong glance at Wendy who was in turn whispering something to her spectral sister. "That was far too close. If things had gone even slightly different, we might have…"

Pursing her lips, the fire starter gave him another shove.

"You say it like we've never almost died before." She said, still trying her best to raise his spirits. "Besides, Wendy's a tough kid. Tougher than she looks for sure. She was surviving for a fair bit before we even met her, remember?"

Her words seemed to have the opposite effect, causing him to shudder.

"That's not the point." Wilson stated, shaking his head. "We got lucky Willow. Extremely lucky. I stumbled across the cave she was hiding in by accident, and it just so happened to contain the doorway. That kind of thing doesn't happen more than once. If we end up in a situation like that again…"

She was silent for a little while after that. There was really nothing to say to it. He was right. The odds of them happening across the door by accident were astronomically small. Even so, she wasn't about to let it kill what morale they had left.

"Then we won't let it happen again." She declared, earning a questioning glance from him. "We'll stick together and do things right. Now get up. We're burning daylight, and not the good kind of burning."

Not bothering to wait for any sign of acceptance, she reached down and grabbed him by the front of his red vest. One forceful yank was enough to pull him up to his feet. He stumbled at the sudden movement, letting out a startled noise.

"What are you doing?" He demanded, watching as she did the same thing with both Wendy and Wolfgang.

"Maxwell said we're on a clock didn't he?" She asked. "He also said we had something hunting us in the last world and everyone knows how that turned out. I'm starting to think that his warnings might be more than just an attempt to scare us. I vote that we get underway as soon as possible so that we won't have to deal with any nasty surprises this time around."

She wasn't about to let him get bogged down in worry. If he wasn't going to lead them forwards, then she'd do it herself. Wilson looked as though he were about to protest, but she cut him off with a wave of her hand.

"I wasn't asking for your opinion." She stated. "I happen to run a dictatorship, not a democracy. When I'm in charge, what I say goes. You got it?"

Once again, she didn't wait for any reply before turning on her heel and striding forwards without hesitation. The others all exchanged looks.

"Uh… Willow…?" The scientist called, causing her to pause. "Shouldn't we pack up the remaining food first?"

She was thankful that she was facing the opposite direction so that nobody could see the red that had encompassed her face.

"Fine." She said curtly, tapping her foot as though he were pointing out something unimportant and inconvenient. "But be quick about it. Once everything's packed up, we're heading out. No excuses."

* * *

><p>No less than thirty minutes later the group was under way and moving. Willow kept them going at a brisk walk. Enough for them to get a bit winded, but not enough for them to need a rest any time soon.<p>

For the most part, the landscape changed very little. Rocks and dirt on the left. Barren wastes on the right. Nothing of any particular note stuck out to them until they'd been walking for a little over an hour.

"Why is world get smaller?" Wolfgang questioned suddenly, peering off into the distance. Willow, who'd been paying more attention to the low droning of the divining rod than the surroundings, looked up momentarily to see what had caught his eye. What she saw stopped her dead in her tracks.

While his question hadn't been phrased very well, it had been accurate in its intent. The world was in fact getting smaller.

No less than ten minutes earlier, she'd been able to look in either direction and see the dry desert-like area as far as the horizon. Now, to the left and right the land stretched outwards for a long while until turning sharply downwards into a murky ocean. The others also looked up in surprise, having just now noticed the phenomenon.

"We're being herded…" Wendy remarked, looking slowly from side to side. "Our path is narrowing into a single direction."

Wilson put his hand up to his mouth, staring intently at their problem.

"I don't like this." He said. "Something doesn't feel right. What did Maxwell call this? A gauntlet? If the way forwards is being limited, then it probably isn't by accident."

Willow nodded, distantly aware of the hairs standing up on the back of her neck. For now, they had no other choice but to push forwards. She only prayed that they'd find somewhere more agreeable before nightfall. She hadn't thought to break down the chests for wood and there were no trees in sight to start a fire with from what she could see.

Another hour of walking and their situation hadn't improved in the slightest. The slight change in pitch from the divining rod assured them that they were going the right way, but the land itself had shrunk drastically. They were now walking along a strip of dirt and rock that expanded for about half a mile on either side. Nobody could tell if it was continuing to close in or not.

"Look! Up ahead!"

Wendy's warning alerted them to a rather drastic change in the layout of the landscape. Up until this point, they'd been striding across a mostly flat area which had only sometimes been interrupted by the odd hill. In the distance however, their path looked very different.

Rocks, boulders, and all manner of rising hills dotted the ground, interspersed with jagged stone outcroppings rising straight up in the air like some kind of ancient monoliths. Even from so far away, the whole thing looked thoroughly uninviting.

As if that wasn't enough, massive dark shapes could occasionally be seen striding between the towering mineral deposits. Every once in a while, a kind of echoing shriek would sound from the quarry, causing each of them to flinch at the harshness of the sound.

All eyes turned to Willow, who'd been the leader of the trek so far.

"Well…" She said, cringing inwardly at the thought of moving through what looked to be a minefield of monsters. "This should be fun…"

* * *

><p>Deep in the bowls of his shrouded domain, Maxwell looked down upon his chessboard. All four pawns were located together as expected. Little by little they were moving along several tiles that were each marked with different numbers. He'd been watching their progress with interest for a long while now.<p>

One development in particular was running through his mind.

Shifting slightly upon his massive throne, he let out a weary sigh. The image of Wilson's knife turning into… whatever the heck it had turned into kept playing out in his head.

"Amateurish to need a catalyst." He remarked to nobody in particular. "But you get points for trying. Haven't seen anyone pull out a shadow set since… well… me_._"

There was no doubt about it now. He'd chosen correctly. Now all he needed to do was ensure that his plan remained hidden.

Both from his victims, and from _them._


	22. Unnatural selection part 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

* * *

><p>The inhabitants of this rocky land-bridge were not as massive as the deerclops, nor were they as terrifying as the living forest, or even as bloodthirsty as the savage pig-warriors. By all rights, they were perhaps the least outright threatening of the monsters Wilson and his companions had come across. They did have one defining feature however.<p>

They were very, _very_, tall.

A comically small, round body stood atop twig-like legs that were as tall as two grown men standing on each other's shoulders. The avian creatures were covered in fine black feathers which decorated every inch of their bodies. Even the limbs and claws of the creatures were coated in downy blankets. The only two parts of the birds that were free from them were the beaks, large enough to bite a horse in half, and the eye. Singular. Much like the deerclops that hunted the frozen tundra, these flightless beasts had only a single eye in the middle of their foreheads.

In a less stressful time, Wilson might have wanted to stay and study them to get a better understanding of their behavior. They were territorial, but not overly aggressive. Exactly the kind of creatures he'd love to observe in the field. Right now however he was of the opposite mind. He didn't much care to learn about the nightmare monsters thought up by Maxwell.

Unfortunately, it seemed he was finding out about their territorial habits whether he wanted to or not.

"Okay, I don't think the small one is chasing us anymore." Willow panted, carefully eying up the birds that were prowling around their perimeter. "This way looks kind of clear. Stick close, all right?"

The others all nodded, not choosing to speak for fear of drawing more unwanted attention. They'd taken shelter behind an enormous pillar or rock which hid them from prying eyes.

The creatures, newly named tallbirds courtesy of Wolfgang, were using the rocky terrain to house their nests. They didn't go out of their way to attack the group, but anytime one of them ventured to close to a precious egg, they'd let out that terrible screeching noise and pounce. Already, they'd had to flee from three different angry birds which took offense to their presence.

Avoiding them hadn't been a problem at first. The nests were spread out enough that they could pass through unharmed. Sadly, it seemed that it wasn't going to stay that easy for long. The landmass they were standing on had continued to condense until their mile-wide expanse now only stood about thirty or forty feet in either direction. Needless to say, this made progressing without angering the locals much more difficult.

There were several times they'd had to skirt around the edges of the sheer cliff-face in order to avoid antagonizing the nesting animals. Each one left Wilson with an uncomfortable sense of vertigo as he'd glanced down at the roiling waters below.

"Wendy, how about you get on Wolfgang's shoulders and be a lookout?" Willow asked, peeking around a boulder to get a better view. "And Abigail, I need you to go up high and find out how long this stupid trail goes for. If it gets any thinner, we're going to run into some problems."

The girl and the strongman both let out simultaneous groans. She disliked the idea of being handled in such a way, and he didn't wish to be carrying an extra burden when the heat of the day weighed them all down so heavily. Despite their protests, a look from the fire starter left no room for argument. They grudgingly complied, Wolfgang stooping down to allow Wendy to better climb up. While not being all that much higher than she was previously, her position allowed her to keep watch on the flightless avian creatures while the strongman worried about where he'd step next.

Abigail for her part was much more cooperative. She floated upwards, earning a few hostile glances and warning squawks from the assorted tallbirds. Squinting in order to follow the ghost's progress, Willow watched until her pale form was no longer visible against the bright blue and white sky.

"Let me know when it looks like she's coming back down will you?" The young woman asked, wiping her dusty hands off on her pants. "I'm going to try and get a better view of what's going on up ahead."

"Wait, hold on." Wilson said, shuffling forwards until he was standing next to her behind the boulder. "What are you trying to do? Splitting up right now sounds like a really bad idea."

"Maybe." She admitted, nodding in response. "But there's an awful lot of nests really close together right behind this rock and most of them are occupied. I want to see if I can slip through and find a safe way past. If we all go together, we'll get caught out for sure."

"What if tallbird see you?" Wolfgang asked, putting one hand up to shield his eyes from the glaring sun.

"Then be ready to run."

It wasn't a very reassuring answer, but they all knew it was about the only thing they could do. They'd made the mistake of trying to fight one of the creatures early on, only to find that harming one drew the attention of the whole group. No amount of strange and mysterious weaponry could hope to hold back an entire army of enraged bird creatures.

"Do I even need to point out how dumb that sounds?" Wilson asked, exasperated. "We should wait until Abigail comes back and have her lead us through. Taking pointless risks just to speed things up won't-"

As if drawn to his words by their logical application, a massive tremor shook the land-bridge and nearly toppled several occupied nests into the sea. Cries and shrieks of surprise sounded from humans and birds alike as the miniature earthquake uprooted boulders and sent clouds of dust shooting into the air. Most of the tallbirds huddled protectively over their eggs, crouching down as far as their oversized limbs would allow and struggling to keep their balance.

As the tremors reached their peak, a deafening crack echoed throughout the landscape, quickly being followed by an enormous splash as countless gallons of seawater were forcefully displaced.

As the rumblings of the earth slowly died off into distant echoes, the four survivors stood transfixed in their tiny slice of sanctuary. They remained fixed to the spot as the tallbirds walked the effects of the quake off and returned to their earlier business.

"What. Was. That." Willow demanded, forcibly emphasizing each individual word. Nobody answered, but all eyes turned back the way they'd come.

"No way." She said breathlessly. "Please tell me I'm not seeing that."

Again, no answer came. Nobody could think to speak. For almost as far as the eye could see, nothing had changed. The only visible difference in the terrain came just at the edge of the horizon. That was where their attention was focused. They couldn't tear their gazes away from the land on the edge of their vision.

Or rather, the lack thereof.

Their original position no longer existed. The quake they'd experienced wasn't simply a fluke. A massive section of the ground had, quite literally, sunken into the ocean.

Abigail's return went largely unnoticed. She too had seen the land crumble, and was just as enthralled at the sight.

Taking a shaky breath, Willow turned back to the scientist.

"What were you saying about taking pointless risks to speed things up?" She asked, her voice cracking slightly. "Because that looks like a pretty good reason to want to move faster!"

He stared in horrified fascination for several more moments before mustering enough self-control to find his voice.

"I don't… I don't understand…" He stammered. "The whole thing just fell. That shouldn't just…"

"Shouldn't just happen?" Willow finished for him. "I've been seeing a lot of stuff like that lately. Now if you don't mind, I think it'd be best if we kept moving as fast as possible. Something tells me that wasn't just a onetime thing."

He struggled to come up with some kind of coherent thought, but was unable to. She was right about their immediate survival taking priority. As much as it pained him to do so, he had to force himself to stop thinking and start acting. Shaking his head, the scientist blew out a sigh and nodded.

"Do you have a plan?" He asked.

In response, Willow turned towards Abigail. The ghost had been floating gently nearby waiting for the fire starter's gesture. At her attention, she glided over to Wendy, an action which caused Wolfgang to visibly tense, and began speaking in the echoing language whose words couldn't be understood by any save her sister.

Wendy frowned in concentration as she deciphered the message, her brows knitting together in a fine line as she leaned over the strongman's shoulder. After about half a minute, she returned to her former position.

"Abigail tells me that there is some kind of structure atop a cliff at the far end of the next open stretch. There is a ladder leading up to it." She explained. "There's no safe way through, but she volunteered to go ahead first and provide a distraction for the rest of us."

Wilson opened his mouth to ask just what a ladder was doing in a place like this, and how it could possibly be large enough to scale a cliff, but he restrained himself. This was Maxwell's world. He had to stop thinking logically and start thinking like their deranged host.

"How many of those birds are between us and this cliff?" Willow questioned, tightening her grip on the divining rod with one hand and holding her staff in the other.

"Enough to be troublesome." The girl replied.

With a weary noise, the fire starter shook out her shoulders and gestured for the others to prepare themselves. By the looks of things, they had no choice but to make a break for it.

"All right, I hope you're all ready for a run." She said, peering around the edge of the rock wall that they were sheltering behind. "I think I see the cliff off in the distance. It's going to be one heck of a dash."

"I is ready for running!" Wolfgang stated, shouldering his heavy club. The action nearly bashed Wendy, who gave him an annoyed smack on the back of his head. "That something I is good at when world is fall apart."

"What about you Wilson?" She asked, turning his way with a half-joking half-serious tone. "Think you can make it?"

"I was never very good at track and field…" He began, grimacing at the thought of the grueling task ahead of him. "But I think I'll manage." He had to. There was no other choice really. If they didn't make it across quickly, the ground they were standing on would eventually plunge into the water below them.

Seeing the determined expressions all around, Willow nodded towards their spectral diversion.

"All right Abby." She said. "Whenever you're ready."

* * *

><p>After the brief disturbance of the tremor, most of the tallbirds had settled back down in their respective areas. Several cast curious gazes towards the empty space where a large section of land had once stood, but most paid it no mind. They were far more concerned with the land right in front of them, letting out annoyed chirps and shrieks whenever another creature wandered too close. All in all, it looked as though the shudders of the earth had died down and normalcy had returned.<p>

Which was why none of them were expecting what happened next.

Like an ethereal cannonball, Abigail rocketed towards the flocks of flightless birds. She shot back and forth between nests at breakneck speed, causing many of the startled creatures to tumble over their own feet as they instinctively tried to jump away from her. Now thoroughly thrown into chaos, the tallbirds lashed out at the invading ghost, pecking, biting, leaping, and clawing all in an attempt to halt her flight. She nimbly darted between snapping beaks and slashing talons with the fluid grace of an acrobat, exploiting each and every opening in order to further muddle the attentions of her targets.

"Go! Move now!" Willow ordered, taking off at a dead sprint and leading the group into the wall of enraged feathers. "Don't stop! Keep running to the end!"

The others needed no further encouragement. Hot on the fire starter's heels, Wilson, Wolfgang, and the passenger Wendy moved as rapidly as their bodies would allow, running in-between the legs of the giant birds as their attentions were directed skywards.

It wasn't as easy as Willow had hoped it would be. Even though Abigail was doing an excellent job of keeping the creatures distracted, the rocky landscape was proving to be difficult to cross quickly. Uneven patches of rock and soil meant that her eyes had to remain focused downwards at all times or she'd risk breaking an ankle. What's more, running while holding two long staff-like objects was much more difficult than she'd anticipated.

She pushed on regardless. This was a test, and all tests could be overcome. It was just a matter of holding onto her willpower until they managed to-

"Willow! Duck!"

Wendy's shouted warning had barely reached her ears before she instinctively dropped into a roll. She felt wind rush past the back of her neck and a small tear open up on the back of her dress as a sharp beak plunged through the spot she'd occupied a second ago. One of the birds had noticed that Abigail wasn't the only disturbance in their territory.

Using her momentum to swing back up to her feet, Willow lashed out with her jewel-topped staff and swatted the creature in its oversized eyeball. With a screech of surprise, the angry avian stumbled backwards and missed its chance to harass the group any further as they rushed past.

Even though the peck had missed its mark, the damage had been done. Several more tallbirds, curious to see what had caused the pained cry, turned their attention away from the wisp-like phantom that had continued to elude them. Almost instantly they spotted the fleeing survivors and sent up a raucous din, alerting their fellow nest-mates to the party.

"Ah crap…" Willow cursed breathlessly. "Time to step it up guys! Looks like we've been found out!"

The run for the cliff quickly elevated into a fully-fledged mad dash as the hoard of tallbirds abandoned their fruitless pursuit of the ghost in favor of easier targets. Wendy called out each new threat as they approached, but there were far too many for her to keep track of even though she didn't have to watch her footing.

Two sharp claws cut open a gash in Wolfgang's leg, prompting the strongman to stomp heavily on the toes of the next bird that got in his way. He ducked under the next attack, barely avoiding a vicious bite. Wendy wasn't so lucky. One of the smaller birds struck from the side, managing to latch its beak on the girl's hair. It tugged hard, coming away with a patch of blonde locks and tearing her hairband free. The sudden loss caused her hair to whip around into her face, momentarily blinding her as she struggled to hold the strand back and fight against the burning pain in her scalp.

Another bird managed to hook its beak under Wilson's vest, hoisting the scientist into the air. Before the birds managed to capitalize on his vulnerability, a bolt of fire impacted the side of the tallbird's head, causing it to drop him with a panicked warble and bowl over several others as it frantically tried to extinguish the flame.

Wilson let out his own startled cry as he plunged back to the ground and landed heavily, twisting his shoulder as he did so. The pain was quickly overridden by adrenaline as he jumped back up, shooting a grateful look to Willow who held her smoldering weapon high to intimidate any would-be attackers.

Life threatening crisis momentarily averted, the group resumed their sprint for freedom. The cliff wall was easily in sight now and drawing closer with every passing second. A massive rope ladder extended down from the top, stopping just before it reached the ground.

Wilson felt a grin fix itself on his face as he took in lungfuls of scorching air. They were going to make it. His throat burned, his muscles felt like they were tearing with every step, and he was getting dizzy from the unrelenting heat of the blazing sun, but they were going to make it. Only a little further and they'd be home free. All they needed to do was get high enough on the ladder so that the birds couldn't reach them and they'd be set.

He probably should have realized at that point that nothing was ever so easy.

No sooner had they set their sights on freedom than another massive quake shook the ground they were standing on. Grinding themselves to a halt, the group struggled to maintain their balance as the earth shifted beneath their feet.

"Another quake!? Are you kidding me!?" Willow shouted, no longer caring about keeping a low profile. "That's cheating! The last one took hours to show up!"

Her protests went unheeded by the force of nature as the rumbling increased in intensity. A quick glance over the shoulder was all Wilson needed to confirm his worst fears.

The land bridge was folding downwards, slipping into the ocean like some kind of submerging serpent. The rock and dirt rippled under the incredible forces drawing them into the water, turning the formerly solid footing into earthy waves.

"Keep going!" Wilson shouted frantically, shoving Wolfgang forwards. "We can't stop now! Just keep moving to the ladder!"

Dashing across the roiling ground, the group rushed the rest of the way to the cliff wall. Thankfully it seemed that the tallbirds had lost their will to fight as the earthquake started. Too busy trying to keep themselves upright, the creatures couldn't be bothered to lash out at the running figures.

Willow was the first to reach the ladder. Quickly tucking both her staff and the divining rod under her armpits, she latched onto the steps and began climbing as fast as she could. Which, given the objects she was carrying, wasn't actually all that fast.

Wolfgang was next. Apparently uninhibited by Wendy's weight or the fact that he was holding a massive club in one hand; the strongman practically flew up the rope pathway, catching up with the fire starter in no time flat.

"Come on Wilson! Hurry up!"

The scientist had fallen behind. Even though his natural stamina had been heavily bolstered by living in the wilderness for so long, he still lacked the endurance needed to keep up with the others. His whole body ached but the constant rumbling of falling earth supplied him with enough motivation to push past the pain.

He ran as hard as he could, drawing closer and closer to his goal. With each step, he bought himself another precious moment. With each second, the dissolving path stole one away. He was practically there. Only a couple more steps to go when the unthinkable happened.

As he leaned forwards to place his next step, his foot came down into open air. The ground had crumbled beneath him before he could reach the ladder. He felt his entire body start to drop as gravity pulled him downwards with the falling landscape. In sheer desperation, his arms flailed towards the hanging object in a last ditch attempt to escape the hungering maw of the ocean.

As he felt his palm brush against the worn wooden rung of the rope ladder, he closed his hand and clung to it for all he was worth. Momentum carried him forwards, slamming him against the cliff wall and nearly tearing his arm from his socket, but he held on. His hand gripped the lifeline with the iron willpower of a survivor, refusing to let go for anything.

Putting forth an inhuman amount of effort, Wilson threw his other arm upwards and grabbed the next rung in the line. Little by little, he began to climb, ignoring the burning protests of his body which begged for a moment of rest. He grunted and groaned, pushing himself far beyond his natural limits and forcing himself upwards for what felt like an eternity. Each new rung was another step and each strain in his body was proof that he was overcoming them.

After a time, two arms reached down and grabbed him by his own. With a mighty heave, Wolfgang and Willow pulled him the rest of the way up and deposited him on the top of the cliff. They all wore faces of sheer relief.

"That… was… way… too… close…" The fire starter gasped, patting Wilson's shoulder as he lay spread eagle on his back, too exhausted to move.

"Thank you Abigail." Wendy said, sparing a small smile for her spectral sister as the ghost settled down nearby. "You did an excellent job of keeping them occupied."

She whispered her incoherent response happily, practically glowing with contentment now that the immediate danger was past. As the group caught their breath, Wolfgang was the first to notice the change in the atmosphere.

"Fire lady?" He ventured. "Talk box is making loud noise. Is we close to exit?"

Blinking in surprise, Willow turned her attention to the divining rod. Just as he'd said, it was now blaring loudly with the kind of infuriating noise that only sounded when they were very close to a doorway.

"Ha!" She exclaimed. "He's right! You hear that? We beat that stupid gauntlet in record time! Take that and shove it up your big dumb suit Maxwell! We can't be beaten so easily!"

As one they all looked up to take stock of their escape route. Almost immediately, a crippling silence descended on them as they laid eyes on the sight.

"You just had to taunt him, didn't you…?" Wilson groaned, any hope of an easy ending dying then and there.


	23. Unnatural selection part 3

**Aaaand it's back. Thanks to everyone who has been waiting patiently for this update. I know it's been a while, and I apologize for taking so long. Things are starting to settle down over here so it shouldn't be anywhere near a month long wait this time. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

* * *

><p>Seconds ticked by, becoming minutes as the group stood in their mutual unease. The haste from fleeing for their lives just a moment ago was replaced by trepidation as their newest obstacle stood before them. All the while, the divining rod screamed its discordant melody into the air around them, mocking the group with the promise of being near their goal.<p>

Rising up from the collective daze, Willow was the first to take stock of the situation.

"It's a maze…" She said, pointing out what all of them had been fearing to confirm out loud. White marble walls stood before them, beckoning the group inside with an invitingly wide entrance. The seemingly benign opening was betrayed by the deep gashes and scorch marks lining the interior hall.

"No. Not a maze." Wilson said, his face falling as he took the divining rod from her and fiddled with it in an attempt to silence the din. "It's a labyrinth."

The others gave him questioning looks, clearly not understanding the difference. Seeing their confusion, he momentarily gave up his efforts to mess with the unnecessarily loud device in order to clarify.

"A maze is built to trap people." He began, his voice still feeling strained from the sprint. "A labyrinth is built to kill people. Even worse, we're too close to the exit to use the divining rod as any kind of reliable guide."

"Shouldn't that be a good thing?" Wendy asked, Abigail nodding beside her. "If it's close then it will be much easier to find."

Wilson shrugged.

"Maybe, or maybe it'll be infinitely harder." He said, raising a weary hand to his forehead to block out some of the oppressively hot sunlight beating down on him. "Think about it. The whole thing could curve and twist in on itself for ages. We might end up running in circles because we think we're getting closer, only to end up at a dead end. Metaphorically or otherwise. Not to mention there's no guarantee it's even on the same floor. For all we know, the door could be far below us."

His concerns were not unfounded. Though the roof of the structure was too low to accommodate two above ground floors, there was nothing stopping it from developing into an underground complex. Much of the dirt around the perimeter also looked as though it had been disturbed at some point, lending the possibility of subterranean excavation more weight.

Another bout of concern descended on them as the gravity of their situation once again hit home. This didn't last long however, as Wolfgang of all people stepped forwards.

"Oh! Oh! I have answer!" He shouted, bouncing up and down excitedly. "Is riddle right? I know answer! I heard long ago there is trick to mazey places. Always take left, and mark at corner. If find dead end, go back to last fork in path and take right!"

Wilson opened his mouth to dismiss the idea, but caught himself mid breath. His mind stopped for a second before he turned to the beaming strongman with a very confused expression.

"Wait a minute…" He said, growing genuinely concerned by the suggestion. "That actually sounds like a _good_ idea. You know… a good _logical_ idea. How did you manage to come up with that?"

He probably could have phrased it better, but Wolfgang showed no sign of taking offense when his cognitive functions were called into question.

"Is trick they taught me in circus!" He declared proudly, though his confidence wavered as he went on. "I get lost in mirror maze many time. Have to learn how get back out or no soup will be left by time I escape."

"That sounds like a plan to me." Willow offered, gesturing forwards with her fire staff. "Standing around here won't get us anywhere, and I think we'll be due for another drop in the landscape by the time we find another way through."

Wilson opened his mouth to object. Even with the crude but effective tactic, they'd still likely end up wandering into the middle of a monster's den. There was no telling what would be waiting for them on the inside.

That was when he saw his companions. Not just looked, but really _saw _them. Wolfgang stood with a confident grin splitting his features, hoisting up a hammer that probably weighed as much as Wilson himself. There was no sign of fear or hesitation in his features.

Wendy was nearby, one hand gripping her peculiar book of spells. She bore her usual veneer of calm, but there was an undercurrent of something else there. A strength he'd been overlooking in favor of seeing her fragile form. Her sister hovered close to her side, drifting from side to side with an aura of preparedness. Whatever lay ahead, she'd be ready to help them fight it.

And then there was Willow. He still didn't know just what to make of the woman. She was so unlike any other female he'd ever spoken to, and yet he found that wasn't actually a bad thing. She was waiting near the entrance to the labyrinth, casting an expectant gaze his way. She was willing to walk into the waiting maw without looking back. She was willing to battle her way to freedom.

For the first time, Wilson truly understood who he was working with. These weren't just a random assortment of people cast to the winds by the cruel hand of fate. They were a team, a family, and they were ready. All this time he'd been fearing that none of them would make it. He'd wondered how they could possibly be so calm with the twists and turns before them. He knew now that it was because they were too busy doing exactly what he'd thought impossible to look up and be worried.

They were giving it there all, and what had he been doing? Dragging his feet while they pulled him along? Constantly questioning whether or not they could do it? Reaching down, Wilson felt the handle of his knife tucked into his belt. No more. He didn't know what was waiting, but he knew he'd be ready for it.

Come hell, high water, or horrific monster, he'd be ready.

Willow seemed to sense his moment of clarity, casting him a curious glance as he squared his shoulders.

"You all right there Wilson?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. He replied with a nod and a small smile.

"Yeah." He said. "I just realized something I probably should have seen earlier is all. I'm right behind you. Lead on."

* * *

><p>"Have we been here already?"<p>

"No, I'm sure we haven't. We marked the path remember?"

"But I could have sworn…"

"We have been here. I remember that bloodstain."

"Which one? How can you remember a bloodstain?"

"There. The one that looks like an inside out rooster. I remember it because I was looking at it while you were deciding whether to go left or right."

Willow let out a groan of frustration, her hand running through her hair as she resisted the urge to bash her head against a wall. This maze was proving to be a lot trickier than she'd expected, and the migraine-inducing screaming of the divining rod caused her skull to feel like it was going to explode.

This place was maddening. Every twist and turn seemed to meld into one another, and to make matters worse, someone was toying with them. They'd found out early on that trying to move forwards with Wolfgang's plan wasn't going to work. Marking the walls had been easy enough thanks to Willow's staff being able to leave behind a scorch mark at will, but as soon as they rounded a corner those little guides would vanish into thin air.

None of the bloodstains or scratches that told of terrible things would disappear. Only the marks that _they_ made. It was impossible to claim it was only coincidence. Either Maxwell was having a laugh at their expense, or something else was making sure that they stayed well and truly lost.

"If you remember we were here before, do you remember which direction we took?" Willow questioned, turning to look down at Wendy.

The girl paused to think for a moment, turning to Abigail as though she expected the phantom to be able to answer them. When that proved fruitless, she offered an apologetic shrug.

"I was looking more at the wall than at where we decided to go." She said, not sounding all that bothered considering the circumstances.

The fire starter let out an explosive sigh, rubbing her eye absently. When she turned to Wilson and Wolfgang, silently offering the same question, the both of them exchanged a mutual cringe.

"Sorry." Wilson apologized, rubbing the back of his head. "I don't really remember where _here_ is, much less which direction we took. How long ago did we give up on the going left plan? Maybe it would be better to just assume we went that way and go right this time."

It was hard to argue with that logic. Well, it probably wasn't, but the fact that the divining rod's tirade of sonic abuse was currently turning the inside of her head to mush left very little argumentative capability in Willow's body.

"Right it is." She declared, gesturing forwards with her staff. "Maybe if we're lucky the place will sink into the sea before I bash my skull open against a wall."

Wolfgang chuckled uncertainly, not knowing whether or not she was being serious. In all honesty she didn't know either.

Another twenty minutes of aimless walking. Another twenty minutes of frustration and disappointment. None of them really knew how long they had before the next quake struck, but they'd stopped worrying about it overly much. Given that it hadn't struck yet, Willow was beginning to think that they were set to happen when the group progressed to a certain point rather than at time intervals. It would explain why they had one after the other only to go through a long period of stability.

Or maybe it was all random and the whole place could come crashing down at any moment. That was also possible.

"Hey, what's that up ahead?"

Wilson's question drew Willow out of her grumbling shroud of self-pity in time to see that, despite the seemingly endless march with almost no results, something had finally changed. A giant wooden door stood at the end of the hall they were walking down. It was massive, looking like it belonged in the gateway to a medieval castle rather than an elaborate maze.

Given the size, Willow felt a little embarrassed that she was only seeing it now but nobody seemed to notice.

"Is way out?" Wolfgang questioned, looking to the others for some sort of confirmation. "Does not look like door we normally use."

"I don't think that'll get us through to the next world, but it might help us reach the exit." Willow replied, taking on her role as their leader here once more. "But don't get too comfortable yet. We still don't know what's on the other side."

Backs were straightened, shoulders were squared, and the four humans plus one ghost did their best to take on a prepared stature as they made their way forwards. Out of the corner of her eye, she could spot Wilson gripping the knife at his belt. He had yet to pull it out but judging by the tense expression on his face he was prepared to do so at a moment's notice.

"Everyone keep behind me." She called, holding her staff like it was some sort of machine gun. "I'll be heading in first."

"Shouldn't fire lady stay back?" Wolfgang questioned. "Fire stick is shoot from range. You should keep distance yes?"

It took a moment for him to realize he was more or less volunteering himself to go first, at which point he suddenly looked less sure of his plan. He was spared from having to follow up on it though, as Willow shook her head.

"This way I can still back out if something goes wrong." She said. "I won't have to worry about getting up close and I can just run back. Besides, I'm the leader this time right? Leaders have to lead."

Wilson wore an expression that showed he wanted to say something to that, but he kept his mouth shut. He'd been acting pretty strange lately. She'd have to ask him about it later.

"All right. Time to get this party started." She said, more to herself than anyone else.

Cradling the fire staff under her right arm, she used her left shoulder to force open the oversized doors. They were surprisingly light, likely carefully balanced in such a way as to make them operable for those who weren't blessed with giant's strength. As soon as it had spread apart enough to move through, she poked her head inside while keeping her weapon at the ready.

Her jaw just about hit the floor.

"Uh… Guys…?" She called over her shoulder, never taking her gaze away from the expansive sight in front of her. "You're gonna wanna see this…"

* * *

><p>At Willow's hesitant call, Wilson edged his way forwards. It couldn't be too bad as she had yet to duck back out of the room, but something in her tone left him on edge. Whatever this was, it wasn't going to be pleasant.<p>

"How's it looking in there?" He asked, doing his best to keep his voice quiet. Given that the divining rod was blaring loud enough to wake the dead it was probably a pointless gesture but he felt the need to do it regardless.

Instead of answering, Willow pushed the intricately carved wooden doorway open further and allowed him to see for himself.

"Oh…"

The room on the other side was massive. An alternating black and white chess-board style flooring stretched the length of an enormous space. Giant marble pillars raised up from the ground, stretching like artificial trees up to support a second story. Scores of tiny alcoves had been carved into the upper walls, and in each one was a metal statue dressed in some manner of long flowing robe. On the ground floor a large number of metal statues resembling the front half of a horse stood at attention, forming a wide hall leading up to the object at the far end of the room.

It was designed like a church, but instead of an altar, Maxwell's doorway stood tall and proud upon the raised platform.

It was an impressive display, but Wilson knew it couldn't be as simple as just walking up to the exit. Even if he hadn't known that Maxwell was too cruel to just let them leave the scattered fragments of bone littering the floor would have made him understand.

"Looks like trouble." Willow said, turning back to the group to gauge their reactions. "Anyone have any guesses as to what we're going up against in there?"

The question was asked only halfheartedly. Given the large number of metal figures standing between them and the door, it seemed fairly obvious what kind of test this was meant to be.

_Still._ Wilson thought to himself. _Maxwell has shown that he loves hitting with something entirely unexpected. _

"I'll go in first." He volunteered, getting the others' attention. "There's no sense in putting everyone at risk at once. Keep behind me, and watch out for any signs of trouble all right?"

"Now hold on a second." Willow stated, giving him an annoyed frown. "Just who said you get to decide strategy here? I'm the leader for this little venture remember?"

"I know."

"I don't care if you don't want to admit- Wait. What?" She asked, blinking in surprise.

"I said I know." He repeated. "You're the boss this time, but I still think this is the best course of action." He left out the part where he really wished there was another way. He still didn't entirely trust the knife… shadow… armor… thing. Whatever it was. He'd come up with a more scientific term for it later.

Willow frowned, taking in his words silently before turning to Wendy.

"Say, does that little magic book of yours have anything that would be helpful indoors?" She asked.

The girl thought for a moment, opening the spell book and leafing through the pages quickly. It didn't take long for her to settle on something.

"Yes. I think I have just the thing." She said, keeping her finger in the paper to make sure she didn't lose the page. "I'm ready when you are."

A nod was all the signal Wilson needed. He cast one glance over his shoulder to see Wolfgang, Wendy, Willow, and Abigail each tensed in preparation for what would come next.

Taking a steady breath, he stepped into the room.

The divining rod went mercifully silent, apparently deciding that they were close enough to the door for it to become unneeded. The sudden thick silence magnified the soft tapping of his shoes on the tile floor, making each step sound like a bomb going off. He cast nervous glances to either side, watching and waiting as the stationary metal constructs stood ramrod straight in their respective resting places.

As he passed the halfway mark, all hell broke loose.

It started with a simple creak of unoiled hinges. Then suddenly a hundred pairs of mechanical eyes opened and immediately shot to him, fixing him to the spot. In the upper alcoves, the many humanoid figures rose up to their feet as one, electric pulses flashing through the glass domes on their heads as they moved for the first time in who knows how long.

There was a brief, tense pause as the legion of nonliving soldiers turned their attention towards the interlopers. It shattered as the first of the horse-creatures let out a mechanical wail and charged forwards.

There was no time for thinking or hesitation. The knife was in Wilson's hand in an instant, the tendrils of darkness already reaching for his mind. This time the transition wasn't anywhere near as jarring. Everything locked into place in the blink of an eye and a cascade of pitch black liquid-like substance spilled forth from the gem in the blade.

In an instant, he was transformed. Darkness wrapped around his body and his knife became a wicked sword. Fear and doubt ceased to exist in his mind. Questions and concerns no longer mattered.

The first of the horses galloped headlong towards him, intent on running him down and pulverizing him with its metal form. It barely had time to register his movement. The sword flashed three times, dismantling the offending contraption with contemptuous ease and sending a tidal wave of bolts and discarded metal clattering to the floor.

"Who's next?"

Those two words set off a landslide of metal as the army surged forth. Every metal horror intent on crushing him beneath their iron hooves.

Wilson was a blur. Darting to and fro, he acted purely on the instincts coming from his strange weapon. One after another, the horses were slashed apart and their remains joined the rapidly growing piles on the floor. Thanks to their size, they could only crowd around him about five at a time, and his unnatural speed allowed him to make use of that. He was just getting into the rhythm of things when disaster struck.

A bolt of electricity shot through the air, smashing into Wilson dead center and sending waves of electric anguish through his nerves. Even in his combat state, the pain was enough to disrupt his movements. Something his foes were quick to capitalize on.

One of the horses doubled over, aiming itself at him like a spear. It rocketed forwards before he could hope to recover and bashed into his gut with the force of an oncoming car. The shroud of shadows absorbed most of the hit, but the scientist was sent flying into the waiting mass of metal.

They didn't waste time. As soon as he hit the ground, a rain of blows fell upon him. Hooves, heads, and all manner of metal implements crashed down on his form with the intent to break him into a million pieces.

"_WOLFGAAAAAAAAANG!"_

All at once, the attacking automatons were scattered violently as a human shaped wrecking ball rammed through them. Following up his mighty battle cry, Wolfgang began laying into the hoard with wild abandon, his massive club pounding the metal hulls of his opponents into scrap metal. Abigail was not far behind, passing through the stallion machines and causing them to break apart from the inside out.

Wilson was quick to join them. Jumping to his feet, the scientist-turned-warrior turned his deadly blade on any creatures that tried to surround his friend. Jumping to the side, he narrowly avoided being struck by another ball of lightning.

The machines on the upper floor were slower to react than the horses, but their focus was now on the pair of humans fighting their horse-like brethren. They began charging power, sending up sparks and a faint glow as their internal power sources built up in preparation of launching another projectile. Before they could fire, one exploded in a massive fireball, its built up energy dispersing in a static wave that fried the two other machines on either side of it.

Willow launched two more fire bolts before they were able to return in kind.

"Hey Wendy!" She called, dashing behind one of the marble pillars for cover. "You ready?"

The girl nodded, though there was no way for the fire starter to see the gesture. Opening her spell book, she began to read. The words flowed off the page and took shape as writhing tendrils of energy that emerged from the floor tiles. Before long, they began to solidify.

Ten massive purple tentacles, adorned with all manner of spiky add-ons, burst from the ground and began lashing out at anything that got too close. Caught off guard by the sudden additions, the shooters on the upper level directed their fire towards the fleshy monsters.

It proved to be a fatal mistake.

As the lightning strikes hit their marks, the tentacles would stiffen and flail as though in pain. That quickly changed as they homed in on the source of their torment. Stretching their forms, they reached upwards and began assaulting the human-like creations. Electricity flew and rubble rained down as the alcoves housing the robots were violently destroyed one by one. Their attempts to fight back only hastened their demise, spurring the tentacles to attack with renewed vigor each time they were struck.

Willow allowed herself a momentary grin as she sent another streak of flame towards the mass of robots, their numbers beginning to dwindle. Wilson, Wolfgang, and Abigail were picking apart the ground troops with the ease of a well-oiled machine. She chuckled a bit at the irony of that statement.

Her cheer didn't last long however. An all too familiar rumbling filled the room and scattered all thoughts of enjoying the moment.

"Earthquake!" She shouted, her eyes immediately going to the door at the other end of the room. "Everyone move! Now! We don't have any time to waste!"

The others all began to break away from their engagements, but the mechanical beasts weren't about to let them go so easily. As though sensing the impending danger, they redoubled their assault in order to keep the humans trapped until they could no longer hope to escape.

Willow felt the floor begin to fall as the maze descended down towards the waiting ocean below. She was about to start shooting again in the hopes to free up Wilson and Wolfgang, but Wendy beat her to it. One of the tentacles smashed down in the midst of the horses and began flinging them in all directions. It managed to cut open a path and let the group make a break for it.

Willow ran. There was nothing else that she could possibly hope to think about other than reaching the door before it was too late. She could hear the rush of water as the maze began to fill up, but she didn't even pause to be afraid. All that mattered was reaching her goal.

The sounds of chaos and her fleeing companions greeted her from behind as she started dashing up the stairs leading to the doorway. Judging by the noise, the others were right behind her.

She reached the top in record time, taking three steps with each leap and not slowing down in the slightest as it leveled out. As soon as she was onto the platform, her hand shot for the lever on the side of the door and gave it a forceful yank.

She turned just in time to see the others reach the top as well. Behind them, a massive wall of water was sweeping through the room, drowning out the fighting tentacles and machines as it went.

Willow didn't have time to take it in fully. No sooner had she started to open her mouth to shout for the others to hurry up, she felt a familiar tendril wrap around her body. She was unceremoniously pulled into the open doorway, her last glimpse of the outside world being that of her companions being pulled forwards in a similar manner.

Then she knew nothing as the world went black again.


	24. Trial by fire part 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

* * *

><p>Wilson let out a satisfied breath as he buried his head farther into the crook of his arm. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this comfortable. Judging by the soft brushing sensation against his skin, he was laying outside in the grass, but it was unlike any grass he'd ever felt before. It was soft. Pleasant. Almost like sleeping in a real bed again. The sun shone down on him, providing a welcome warmth that was neither too hot nor too cold. Everything felt simply perfect.<p>

Until he remembered where he was.

Eyes instantly shooting open, the scientist shot upright. A brief glance was enough to tell him that they were no longer in the labyrinth that they'd fought through in the last world. That would mean that they passed the test and made it to the next one.

His hand drifted to his belt where he felt the familiar leather of his knife handle. It was a reassuring tool to have. While he still held misgivings about the possible long term effects of using it, he couldn't deny how helpful it had been.

Besides. It made him feel powerful. He could get used to that.

The sound of rustling grass and displaced flora reached his ears as his companions started to stir. They moved sluggishly, still held under the comforting effects of this new prison. Wilson had already decided not to trust anything he was feeling at the moment. No doubt it was all a ruse to lure them into a false sense of security.

"Well." Willow remarked, squinting upwards as she took in the scenery. "This is different."

A soft rolling grassland surrounded them, broken up only by the occasional tree or hill. As far as the eye could see, the world looked utterly harmless.

"Is nice!" Wolfgang declared, seating himself among the grass and flowers. "Much better than cold place. And fally place. And rainy pig place too."

It was hard to disagree with the assessment, but the scientist still wasn't satisfied. It wasn't long before he saw he wasn't the only one either.

"What do you think Wendy?" He asked, spying the girl staring off into the landscape.

"I don't like it." She replied evenly, turning to face him. The statement set him on edge, leaving his mind to wonder at all sorts of sinister implications. When she made no move to clarify her displeasure, he pushed on.

"What's the problem?" He asked, already assuming the worst. If she could see something they all couldn't, it likely had to do with some of the darker forces at work in these worlds.

"It's too…" She paused, wrinkling her nose as though the statement she was trying to make filled her with disgust. "…pretty."

"…Too pretty?" Wilson repeated, all his previous assumptions grinding to a halt. It certainly wasn't the answer he'd been expecting.

"Yes." She confirmed, either not seeing or not caring about the strange look she was getting. "Much too pretty. Nothing in life looks so… perfect. It just doesn't work that way. This place isn't natural."

"I think you should know by now that nothing in this world is _natural_."

It came as no surprise to any of them when Maxwell's voice cut into their conversation. As one, the group turned to face the man.

"So what's the catch this time?" Wilson asked, getting straight to the point. He was still riding on the momentum from their previous victory and could feel the tides starting to turn in their favor now that they were into the fourth test. "Let me guess, is it going to be bees? Or maybe giant rhinos? Is the sky going to start falling on us after a few days or something? Come on, don't leave us waiting here."

That was when he noticed something was wrong. Maxwell looked much the same as he had during all their previous encounters, wearing his expensive looking suit, and standing around with the pompous air of one who never considered he might have an equal. There was only one minor difference, but it stood out like a flaming squirrel in a barren tree.

He wasn't smiling.

The expression on his face was almost downcast, looking like he was in the middle of something highly unpleasant. There was no more traces of arrogant superiority or command. He looked like a man doing a job rather than a master puppeteer manipulating his toys.

"This is a compromise." He said at last. "No tricks. No struggle. I've made this particular world as close to perfect as it can physically be. You'll never be wanting for food or shelter, and you will be able to live out the rest of your days in luxury."

It had to be a bluff, but no signs of deceit played out across his face when he spoke. He was dead serious in his demeanor. Wilson exchanged an anxious look with his companions.

"You don't really expect us to believe that do you?" He said, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt. "Hounds are going to come attack us in our sleep aren't they? You said there were five worlds designed to test us in every possible way. You never mentioned we'd be stopping after passing the halfway mark. Don't think you can just change the rules and expect us to go along with it."

Maxwell simply shook his head.

"I don't much care whether you choose to 'go along with it' or not." He said. "You don't get a say in the matter. Trust me. It's better this way. Stay here and you'll all be allowed to have everything you could possibly want. Food. Homes. Pigs to serve your every whim. Go ahead and start a family for all I care. Count your blessings and be happy with what you've got. As for me, I've got places to be. So long. I'd say it's been nice, but that wouldn't be truthful now would it?"

With that, he turned on his heel and walked away offering a wave over his shoulder. Wilson stood dumbfounded for a moment before he was snapped back into awareness.

"Oh no you don't!" He shouted, rushing forwards in an attempt to stop the departing figure. "You don't get to just walk away like that! We didn't agree to this! The deal was five worlds and you send us home remember!? You can't just go back on your word like that!"

His actions proved futile as Maxwell gave no sign of stopping to hear him out. The man and his million dollar suit vanished long before Wilson had a chance to catch up, leaving all of them in a shocked silence.

The scientist let out a frustrated cry, kicking up a patch of dirt before his hands went to cover his face. He didn't even know why this bothered him so much. Obviously Maxwell wasn't just letting them go. It was another one of his tricks. But to offer them such a thing while simultaneously denying them their freedom? That was low.

"Where's the divining rod?" He asked, turning to face the group again. They came back to attention at his voice, shaking off the aftereffects of the news. Wendy was the first to spot it.

"Right here." She said, picking the device up off the ground. It let off the consistent, low droning that meant their goal was a very long ways away. "You must have dropped it when we arrived."

He took the rod with a nod of thanks, waving it around experimentally to see if it reacted to any particular direction. No such luck. They'd have to start out the old fashioned way and find the right path through trial and error.

"I don't know what game Maxwell's playing." Wilson said, addressing all of them at once. "But I sure as heck don't think we should be playing along with it. I say we get underway as soon as possible. We've beaten his challenges three times now. No reason to stop just because he tried to bribe us, right?"

"Right." Willow agreed, clapping him on the shoulder. "About time you started talking sense. Glad to see you've decided to join the rest of us."

He couldn't help the corners of his mouth turning up in a goofy grin at that.

"Well…" He began. "You didn't really leave me any other choice. I wanted to keep things safe, but everyone kept going anyway."

Abigail drifted her way over to Wendy, peering over the girl's shoulder while she busied herself with grinding a flower under her heel with a look of distaste on her face.

"May we go now?" She asked, scraping the remnants of the desecrated flora off her shoe. "This place is starting to make me sick."

"Little girl is make sick by flowers?" Wolfgang asked, concerned. "Little girls is supposed to love flowers!"

"Don't forget that this 'little girl' is also a practitioner of the dark arts." Wilson reminded him, chuckling at the idea of Wendy wearing a crown of flowers. "Come on. The sooner we get started, the sooner we can get out of here."

Heartened by their sense of rejuvenated energy, they set off in pursuit of their freedom.

* * *

><p>One week.<p>

Seven days. One hundred and sixty eight hours. Ten thousand and eighty minutes. Six hundred and four thousand, eight hundred seconds.

Six hundred and four thousand, eight hundred and one…

Six hundred and four thousand, eight hundred and two…

Six hundred and four thousand, eight hundred and three…

The unrelenting weight of total tedium bore down heavily on Wilson's mind as he leaned back against the wall of his log cabin. It was funny, only a little while ago the idea of having a building to sleep in was practically his idea of heaven. Here it was, pre-built and ready to be used and he could hardly stand to even look at it.

All because he knew it was _Maxwell_ who'd built it for them.

One week of constant searching. One week of total nothingness. The divining rod provided no insight, coming up empty no matter how far they walked in any particular direction. The steady rhythm of its mindless noisemaking taunting their efforts and acting as a background symphony to their monotonous dredge through the world.

Not that they really had anything else to put their energy towards. As it turns out, their debased host hadn't been lying when he'd said everything they could want was provided. Bushes bore all manner of fruits and berries for them to eat, all of which grew back in mere hours. Astonishingly fast all things considered, but Wilson had stopped questioning how such things could be possible a long time ago.

There were no creatures to threaten them. Hounds no longer existed. The only spiders where the small, garden variety which were no threat to anything larger than a moth. Even the night was illuminated by a bright full moon, providing protection against "Charlie" or whatever Maxwell had called that creature.

A moderately sized pig village was located near where they'd started out. Unlike the warrior pigs, these ones were perfectly friendly, and were more than happy to help in any way that the group asked. They were disturbingly eager to serve, as though catering to the whims of guests was all they cared about.

Knowing what this place was built for, it probably was.

There was even a small assortment of cabins set up in a campground style gathering, centered around a fire pit so large that Willow was practically prancing in glee when they first ignited it. It was, for all intents and purposes, perfection.

Tedious, dreary, infuriating, perfection.

A groan escaped Wilson's chest as he slumped to the side, falling into the downy grass beneath him. The stuff was so soft it rivaled the mattresses that had come with their housing. Given the exceedingly mild climate, it probably wouldn't have been a terrible idea to sleep outside every now and then.

The scientist's eyes drifted up to the sky. Even that looked maddeningly perfect. Just the right amount of fluffy white clouds to provide enjoyable scenery, but not so much that they disrupted the sunlight. His mind began to drift along with their slow, wind-borne trails.

His fingers unconsciously drummed against the handle of his knife, a gesture which he was growing more and more accustomed to. He'd been wrong about his paranoia. That he was certain of. The shadows had merely needed a chance to get acquainted with him so to speak. They hadn't felt anywhere near as invasive the second time.

As it happens, he had almost forgotten what that felt like. How long ago had it been when he last used it? Only a week? With how slowly time seemed to move here, it felt like it had been months. Maybe he should let them out again. Just to get that feeling of power. Yes… That sounded appealing. There was no harm in it. Just a little taste shouldn't hurt…

His train of thought was derailed as a figure stepped into his line of sight, blocking his sunlight and casting him into the shade.

"You look busy." Willow remarked, prodding his shoulder once with her toe. "Penny for your thoughts?"

Wilson scoffed.

"You'll need more than a penny to buy those." He replied. "My thoughts are valuable enough to buy a small continent."

His comment earned a sarcastic chuckle from the fire starter as she shook her head.

"My, my, feeling awfully humble today aren't we?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I can't help it if I'm brilliant."

His remark earned him a playful kick to the ribs. After a moment, the banter ended and a more serious expression replaced her amused grin.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" She asked, still standing over him in such a way as to block out the sunlight. Wilson silently mused on whether or not he could get away with passing it off as a simple mood. Unsurprisingly, that didn't feel like it was going to work.

"I guess I haven't been feeling very high-spirited over the past few days." He explained, closing his eyes and letting the gentle breeze drift over his face. "We haven't made any progress yet, and the monotony is starting to wear on my nerves."

Not to mention he was dying to use the knife again. To feel that energy in the palm of his hands once more. He toyed with the idea of telling her that as well, but decided against it. There was no sense in drawing too much attention to it. After all, she might want to try. He couldn't readily go around sharing it could he? It was his.

Wilson's eyes popped open as he mentally jumped in surprise at his own thoughts. Where had all of _that_ come from?

Before he could read too much into it, Willow leaned forwards over him, her hair and face silhouetted against the backdrop of the midday sun. It almost looked as though she had a halo made of fire and light surrounding her.

"You know the best cure for tedium?" She asked, giving him a cocky smile. "Progress. Now get up and let's make some."

A noise that was equal parts laugh and sigh issued from the back of his throat as rolled his eyes in return.

"Great idea." He remarked dryly. "Next thing you know, you'll be saying that all we have to do to get home is leave. I'm shocked I never thought of such a thing."

Her smile didn't falter for a second.

"…What's that look for?" He questioned, realizing that the fire starter had something up her sleeve. Hopefully it wasn't more of Wendy's cooking. The girl had made them dinner two nights ago since all the others were too fatigued after a full day of searching. Wilson didn't know what that stuff was made of, but he was pretty sure feeding it to prisoners could be classified as a crime against humanity.

"Oh, nothing~" Willow replied, her voice taking on a singsong note. "I just thought you might want to hear what our latest search party managed to find~"

"…You're kidding right?" He asked, hardly daring to believe what she was implying. "Did someone actually find something?"

"Why don't you come see for yourself?" She answered, offering her hand. After only a moment's hesitation, he reached up to grab it and she pulled him up to his feet. He took a second to brush off his pants before stretching out his back and straightening himself up.

"You'd better not just be getting my hopes up for nothing." He warned, pointing an accusing finger. Willow put her hand up to her forehead in a gesture of mock fright.

"Oh no!" She exclaimed, turning on her heel and heading away from their campsite. "The great Wilson P. Higgsbury might be mad at me if I don't live up to his expectations! Whatever will I do?"

"You could start by losing the attitude." He mumbled under his breath, only half serious. Despite the way this place tore at the edges of his sanity, he had to admit that it was nice to see Willow so relaxed.

"Are you coming or not?" She called over her shoulder, not bothering to slow down. Wilson stuck his tongue out, though he knew she couldn't see him.

"I'm coming. Don't you worry." He assured, jogging to catch up with her. Even if this whole thing turned out to be nothing, it would at least help to distract him from his previous concerns.

Unbeknownst to the scientist, his fingers drummed automatically against the handle of his knife.

* * *

><p>"Willow…" Wilson began, his features not being able to decide whether they should settle on disturbed, confused, amused, or a mixture of the three. "…What's going on…?"<p>

The scene playing out in front of him was a peculiar one to say the least. Wolfgang stood in the middle of a clearing, his face a scrunched up mask of concentration as he stared up at the diving rod held in his left hand. In his right, the enormous club he now carried everywhere was tensed in preparation to swing at any moment. Wendy and Abigail sat at the base of a nearby tree, observing the display with only moderate interest.

"Just watch." The fire starter said, holding in suppressed laughter at the sight. "Trust me, there's a good reason why he's doing this."

Deciding to take her at her word, Wilson closed his mouth and watched. Wolfgang was patrolling slowly in a large circle, each step looking as though it was carefully thought out. After about four or five of these, he suddenly stopped, looking sharply at the divining rod. He took one experimental step backwards before nodding to himself.

Rearing back his arm, he slammed the club into the ground with a resounding thump that echoed clear across the clearing. Wilson was sure he could see a cloud of dirt fly up from the impact zone. After his attack on the Earth, Wolfgang started his patrols up again with a very slightly modified path.

This process of slow walking, backtracking, and attempting to break through the ground repeated itself several times before Wilson finally decided that enough was enough.

"Ok, I give up." He said, turning back to Willow. "What am I watching? Did he eat some strangely colored mushrooms or something?"

She just smiled and shook her head.

"Close your eyes and try listening for a bit." She explained. "You might pick up on something you missed."

As a scientist, Wilson appreciated the sentiment of finding out answers through experimentation. As a human being though, he found the needless complication to be frustrating in the extreme. Never the less, he decided to play along.

Closing his eyes, he let his other senses focus.

At first the only noise he heard was the rustling of leaves in the wind and the regular thrum of the divining rod's endless melody. He didn't detect anything out of the ordinary until…

There.

All of a sudden, the tone of the rod's wailing changed ever so slightly. It was almost imperceptible, shifting the barest fraction of a degree, but it was a change. A sudden surge of anticipation ran through Wilson's system at the sound he hadn't heard in almost eight days.

Quickly following the shift in tone, the solid impact of a blunt object pulverizing the ground greeted his ears. After listening to the pattern for a couple more rounds, he knew what was going on.

Opening his eyes, Wilson looked more closely at the tiny craters pockmarking the clearing.

"He's mapping out where the tone changes." He said, earning a nod and an approving smile from Willow.

"That's right." She said, gesturing to Wolfgang. "He and Wendy found it early today. Apparently, there's an area over there that's somehow closer to the door than the rest of this place. He's been using that mallet to make an outline so that we can see it better."

It was a clever, if somewhat crudely implemented, plan as far as Wilson could see. He opened his mouth to say as much when a new sound drew his attention. It wasn't the droning of the divining rod, nor was it the steady thump of Wolfgang's miniature earthquakes. It sounded suspiciously like cracking.

All at once the sound of splintering wood filled the air as the ground the strongman had been marking off sagged inwards. He barely managed to jump to safety before the whole thing collapsed, sending up a plume of dust and debris that quickly encompassed the group.

Coughing and squinting into the cloud, Wilson ran forwards.

"Wolfgang!" He called, his voice catching as the scratchy particles irritated his throat. "Are you all right? What's going on?"

Behind him, Willow was quick to follow. She drew level with him right as he made his way to the edge of the newly made pit. Wendy and Abigail joined them soon after.

Much to everyone's relief, Wolfgang had escaped the fall and was currently peering over the edge. Seeing that he was still intact, the group's attention was quickly drawn downwards as well. Wilson could hardly believe what he was seeing.

About a foot and a half beneath the surface, several large logs had been buried, covering about an area of about ten square yards. The wooden beams had been covering a hollowed out area while supporting the weight of the dirt on top of them. It was a carefully made hiding spot, one that he doubted they'd have ever found were it not for the divining rod.

Large cracks ran around the circumference of the logs, likely the result of Wolfgang's marking methods. Once their structural integrity had collapsed, the supports could no longer hold up the dirt on top of them and had fallen inwards, revealing the hidden treasure. It was something Wilson could have gladly gone his whole life without ever seeing again.

As he looked down into the pit, a cavernous mouth filled with slime and teeth looked back up at him. The thick, leathery flesh surrounding it rippled as the subterranean creature shifted about.

"Isn't that…" Willow began, thinking back to the last time they'd encountered one of these creatures.

"Yes." Wilson said, finishing her thought for her. "That's a wormhole."


	25. Trial by fire part 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

* * *

><p>"It looks sick." Wendy remarked, leaning forwards to peer more closely at the wormhole. Wilson put a cautioning hand on her shoulder to prevent her from getting too close.<p>

Shortly after unearthing the hidden creature, the group had busied themselves with finding a way down. With some clever shovel-work, they'd managed to cut several rows of handholds into the sides of the dirt walls where the wooden beams were no longer covering. It might have only been a short trip down, but the scientist had wanted to be absolutely sure they could get back out once they went into the pit.

"She's right." Willow added, nodding down at the partially buried mound of flesh. "That thing looks a heck of a lot worse off than the one you got pushed into."

Wilson had to agree. If the earlier wormhole had truly been an average specimen, this one looked nothing short of deathly ill. Instead of the rough brown hide that the first had possessed, it was tinged a vile green and seemed to be coated in some slimy substance which may have been sweat, mucus, or both. Every now and then, it would contract and give a coughing wheeze as though trying to dislodge excess phlegm from deep within its cavernous throat.

It was hard to imagine, but this thing was even more disgusting than the other had been.

"Is smell… like many dead things… inside other dead things…" Wolfgang said, holding a hand up to his mouth as he tried to keep from gagging. His face was starting to mimic the same shade of green as the creature before them.

The conversation transitioned into a hesitant silence after that. Each of them looked upon the diseased creature with their own private thoughts running through their heads. The implications of their discovery wasn't lost on them. If the last wormhole had transported Wilson to another area, it was entirely possible that this one could do the same.

But…

Several pairs of expectant eyes turned to the scientist. He took a step back, feeling decidedly uncomfortable under the sudden scrutiny.

"What's that for?" He questioned, his eyes unconsciously darting back and forth between them. "If you're thinking what I think you're thinking you'd better start thinking something think. Gah, I mean… something else."

His sudden defensiveness roused amused chuckles from the rest of the group as Willow gave him a pat on the back that was anything but encouraging.

"Calm down there big guy." She said. "I was just wondering what your opinion on this thing was. After all, you've got more experience with them than the rest of us do."

"It's not as though I got an in-depth look at its biology when I fell in." He replied, remaining on guard and staying out of pushing range of the giant mouth. "All I know is that it looks dirty and I'd rather not go anywhere near it if I can help it."

The young woman merely gave him a noncommittal shrug as she turned back to observe the creature's flagging health. A small trickle of a drool-like substance was slowly dribbling out from between its teeth and wetting the dirt in a circle around its form.

"Why is worm down here?" Wolfgang wondered aloud. "Did get stuck before digging up through dirt?"

"I highly doubt that." Wilson answered, turning his focus to the same question. "Given that the dirt above it was being supported, I'd say that this thing was being stashed away for a reason. As to why it would be buried or how it managed to get sick…"

His shoulders slumped in a shrug of his own as his hands went to his pockets.

"…I can't really say."

There was a pregnant pause as his words sunk in. They'd been searching for a while already in the hopes of finding something out of the ordinary, and now that they'd found it they didn't know just what to think. After several moments, Wendy's exasperated sigh cut through the quiet.

"Am I the only one who sees it for what it is?" She demanded, crossing her arms and frowning at the others. "Honestly, it's painfully obvious. I thought you were supposed to be smart or something."

Wilson's eyebrow twitched in annoyance at the remark, prompting him to answer with his own disparaging comment.

"I have dozens of theories about what it _could_ mean." He said, putting his hands to his hips with a frown to match her own. "But I have no way of being certain. If it's so obvious, would you mind filling the rest of us in oh great and insightful one?"

His attitude earned him an elbow to the ribs from Willow, but it was worth it. He was frustrated after spending so much time with so little progress and he certainly didn't appreciate the questioning. His hand edged towards the handle of his knife for what must have been the fifteenth time in the last hour, but he kept it in place if for no other reason than to maintain his posture.

"Fine." Wendy stated. "Let me ask you, why do you bury something?"

"Oh! Oh! Because it dead!" Wolfgang interjected, apparently not picking up on the minor dispute. Wendy rolled her eyes at his answer, letting out a small breath as she did so.

"That is one reason, yes…" She admitted, causing the strongman's face to split in a massive grin. "But what else?"

When no other attempts were made to solve her little riddle, she continued.

"To _hide _things." She stated, putting heavy emphasis on the second word. "To keep them out of sight. To prevent others from finding them. Now ask yourselves this, who would want to hide this from us, and more importantly, who _could_?"

"You think Maxwell put it down here?" Willow questioned, beating Wilson to the punch.

"Who else? It isn't like these worlds are natural occurrences. They were made."

"But why would he do that?" Wilson asked. "Sure the divining rod is reacting to it, but why would he bother putting it here in the first place? He didn't seem like he wanted us to progress, so wouldn't it have been better just to not make it at all?"

"The rules." She replied, nodding as though it were the simplest thing in the world. Everyone except for Abigail looked entirely lost at that point.

"The… what?" Willow asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The rules." The girl repeated. "Or don't you remember? Maxwell said that there were rules at the beginning of the last world. Don't you see? This is all designed for a purpose. We're supposed to be able to get through otherwise what would be the point? Whether he wanted to put it here or not is irrelevant. He _had _to, otherwise he'd be breaking the rules."

"I think that's a pretty big jump in logic." Wilson said, still skeptical. "You make it sound like this is some kind of game. Besides, even if there are rules, we don't know them for sure and I'm willing to bet that Maxwell isn't the kind of guy who'd think twice about cheating."

"You say that, and yet the path forwards is right here." Wendy replied, patting the unhealthy flesh of the wormhole. "It was made, so it has to exist for some purpose. It was hidden, so it would need to be hidden for a reason. It serves to transport people from one point to another, so what possible alternative could there be? It's too much work to be a trick, and too precise to be a fluke."

He had no answer for her. The logic made sense, and if he was being honest, he even wanted to believe it. Still, the idea of jumping headfirst into the unknown was so against his philosophy that he couldn't help but hesitate.

His philosophy… His _old_ philosophy. That was what was holding him back. The part of him that wanted to hold back, play it safe, keep his distance and not approach until he was sure it was safe.

His fingers brushed the edge of his knife again, drawing strength from the feel of the smooth metal. He couldn't afford to think like that anymore. Not more than a week ago, he'd come to that revelation. He had to be willing to take a risk, to do whatever it took, in order to see them all get home.

It was time to move forwards. An uncharacteristically reckless grin crossing his face and the next words out of his mouth caused everyone to stop dead in their tracks.

"So, who gets to jump in first?"

* * *

><p>Wilson had a split second to register the sudden burst of sunlight before gravity took a hold of his form and smacked him down hard against the unforgiving soil. The impact drove the air out of his lungs and left him wincing in the dirt. He had all of four seconds to start getting his bearings before a very unwelcome weight crashed down onto his back.<p>

Willow was thrown in the same direction he'd been, and through the cruel hand of fate had fallen in the exact same spot as well. Her body landed hard on his back just as he was starting to rise, crushing the poor scientist into the dirt and giving him a mouthful of decrepit grass.

"Oh man…" She groaned, moving slowly as she rolled off his battered body. "That sucked. Ugh… I've got slime all over me… Hey guys? Where are you?"

"Down here." Wilson mumbled, pawing at his face in a useless attempt to dislodge the dirt and grime which had become plastered to the slime covering him.

"Oh… Whoops." She replied sheepishly. "So that's what I landed on."

Turning his head towards the sound of her voice, he gave her a deadpan stare before forcing himself back up to his feet. The wild ride had been no less intense than he remembered, and his sense of balance was shot to pieces by the tumbling turns he'd had to endure.

A short distance away, a small slimy mass with blonde hair began to stir in the straw-like grass.

"Are we dead?" Wendy questioned, her voice conveying none of the discomfort that was written on her face. "I suppose not. This place is far too dull looking to be the afterlife."

As if to confirm her suspicions, Abigail drifted over to her still in the guise of her ghostly image. Her ethereal form had come in handy as she was the only one of them who hadn't been forced to endure the rough jostling or the vile coating that came with their ride.

"Well." Willow began staring in disgust and shuddering at the sludge that clung to her clothing. "That was unpleasant. I need a fire. Now. The doorway can wait so long as we- Wait, where's Wolfgang?"

No sooner had she spoken the words than the wormhole began emitting strange hacking sounds. The giant transportation creature gagged and coughed, hunching in on itself before expelling the contents of its throat in a massive upheaval of sludge and ooze. The massive blob quickly splattered to earth, sending up a repulsive spray of the substance on anyone and anything unlucky enough to be nearby.

Wilson found himself being used as a human shield as Willow quickly ducked behind him to take shelter from the wave. He'd barely had time to register what was going on before the disgusting slime struck and covered him for a second time.

"Thanks a lot." He hissed, his words garbled by the fresh batch of horribleness that masked his features.

"Hey, I was just making the best of a bad situation." Willow replied. "It's not my fault you were too slow to move out of the way."

He was about to make a response to that when the oversized glob of slime began to rise up, revealing itself to be none other than their missing companion.

"Fun ride!" Wolfgang shouted, wiping excess secretion away from his grinning face. He seemed entirely unbothered by the sorry state that he and the rest of them were in after the experience. "We go again? Please? Want to try upside down this time!"

"We are _not_ going again!" Willow stated, her voice cracking slightly at the thought of being subjected to the wormhole a second time. "Or ever again for that matter! That thing was just…. Gah, I don't even know what it was, but it was awful."

As the group started getting their bearings once again, a horrible wheezing sound filled the air. All eyes turned back to the wormhole in time to see convulsing and coughing as it struggled against some unseen damage. With one final heave, the subterranean creature seemed to collapse in on itself, sputtering the last of its life out in one great sigh. A very subdued silence settled in as the beast went still for the final time. Several minutes were spent silently watching it before Willow managed to break the spell.

"I guess it really was sick after all…" She offered, her voice containing conflicting remorse. "I didn't think that we'd end up killing it…"

"I think it was supposed to die off if we went through it." Wilson said, drawing her attention. "It was left as a one way ticket. Look around. You'll see what I mean."

She wanted to refute his point, refusing to believe that a creature could simply exist to die, but a quick glance at their surroundings caused her to hesitate.

Everything their previous abode had been, this place was the opposite. Dead, rotted grass clumped together atop cracked and diseased earth. Small puddles of brackish water dotted the ground as skeletal trees reached gangly wooden fingers to the sky like corpses rising from the grave. There was no wind, nor the sounds of animals making their homes in the lifeless forest. It was cold and silent as the grave.

"Where's the divining rod?" Willow asked quietly, choosing to go over their supplies rather than comment on the miserable state of the world around them. Wendy offered it to her without a word, having been the one carrying it during their journey through the worm.

"Box is sound louder than before." Wolfgang commented, doing his best to remain positive in the face of the sudden change in atmosphere. His efforts were only partially successful, earning a small nod from the fire starter.

"That's right." She agreed, taking in the noise of their mechanical guide. "It doesn't sound all that far off either. The worm thing must have dropped us off near the doorway."

"That's a good thing." Wilson interjected, stepping into the conversation after having pulled up a patch of grass to wipe himself off with. "If we're close then we've reached the final stretch. This is the fourth world. After this, there's only one left we need to fight through before we get to go home."

"It won't be that easy." Wendy said, her eyes gazing into the distance as though observing something none of them could see. "There's a dark presence here. It won't be happy to sit by and let us go on our way."

"When does it ever?" Wilson replied, doing his best impression of a confident smile. It felt out of place, but if he was honest he was actually looking forwards to the challenge. It would be another chance to use his knife. Maybe he should activate it right now. Better safe than sorry…

"I think it's this way." Willow called, drawing him out of his thoughts. "The noise is a bit louder when it's pointed east."

Her voice was far from thrilled, and it didn't take long to see why. East happened to be the part of the zombie-like forest which was thickest. No doubt their goal would be located in the center of the wicked place.

"At least it's not as pretentious as where we came from." Wendy observed, earning a few raised eyebrows. Seeing the looks she was getting, she explained with a roll of her eyes. "It's not trying to hide its nastiness. The other place was all gilded and perfect. How can you trust something like that?"

"Right…" Wilson said, choosing not to go too deep into her line of thought. "Let's get going then. I don't think Maxwell will be too happy we found his little pathway if he went through all that trouble to hide it."

A mumbled assortment of affirmative noises answered him as they grouped together once again to begin moving forwards. Each of them cast cautious glances over their shoulders, unable to shake the distinct feeling that something was watching them from the depths of the lengthy shadows that clung to the dimly lit trees.

Their concerns were not unfounded. Lurking just out of sight, several pairs of eyes were fixed on the intruders as they pushed into the forest. Sharp teeth and scuttling forms flittered to and fro, barely able to contain themselves as they tracked their prey. The time to strike hadn't come yet, but it would soon.

Very soon.

* * *

><p>"This… is… disgusting…" Willow moaned, visibly shuddering as she was forced to push through the muck and mire of the swamp they'd found themselves traversing. Though the trees hadn't thinned in the slightest since they'd started moving, the ground itself had changed from crumbling dirt to vile smelling liquid with the consistency of raw sewage.<p>

Perched atop Wolfgang's shoulders, Wendy held her nose with one hand while using the other to page through her spell book. What she was looking for, Wilson could only guess but he'd be very grateful for a spell that would do something about the overpowering smell of rot and decay that hung heavily in the air around them.

It was a much worse version of the bog that they'd been forced to cross in order to find the doorway that had started their journey through the five worlds.

"Just keep going." Wilson offered encouragingly, not entirely sure if he was speaking to their benefit or his own. "If we could last through the never ending winter, a swamp is no big deal. It's not like we need to bunker down against the elements at least."

Not that he'd be opposed to a little wind right about now. The air was so still that it was starting to make him painfully on edge. This kind of unmoving atmosphere wasn't natural.

Without warning, Willow jumped with a shriek, causing s splash of briny water to douse both Wilson and Wolfgang.

"What was that!?" She demanded, her voice near hysterical as her eyes darted frantically around her legs. "I felt something move! I swear, if that was one of you it isn't funny!"

"How could it be one of us?" Wilson demanded, spitting out the foul tasting water he'd been hit with. He was getting very tired of being covered in stuff like this. "We're not anywhere near you. And even if we were-"

An unexpected slithering sensation running across his leg silenced his objections. All at once, Wilson realized that the lifeless atmosphere wasn't so lifeless after all.

"Everyone get back!"

The words had hardly left his mouth before a massive fleshy whip snapped upwards, sending him flying as it smacked into his midsection. The scientist's world became momentarily muted as he plunged into the murky water, his senses being thrown about as he had no way of knowing which way was up.

Despite the gravity of the situation, he couldn't help but feel a thrill run up his spine.

Still submerged into the waist-deep muck, his fingers gripped around the knife at his belt and pulled it free. One brief tap to the gem was all it took to unleash the intoxicating magic once more, the seemingly living shadows eagerly flying forth and encasing him in robes of darkness.

Wilson broke the surface as a different man. The mass of flesh that had assaulted him was still swinging wildly, undulating like some massive snake as Willow, Wendy, and Wolfgang were forced to dodge away from it. The creature bore a striking resemblance to the tentacles Wendy had summoned to help them in their previous trial.

In the blink of an eye, it lost its resemblance to anything. The shadow sword flashed through the air at incredible speed, slicing through the thick hide of the monster with ease. Three horizontal strikes followed up by one vertical was all it took to send the piecemeal remains splashing back into the mire they'd sprung from. The only sign that they'd existed at all being a purplish discoloration of the creature's vital fluids staining the surface where it had fallen.

"That was easy enough." Wilson remarked, admiring the sheen of his sabre as it stood out pitch black against the brown and grey background of the wooded wetlands. "How many more of those things do you think there are waiting for us?"

When no answer came, he cast a questioning glance over his shoulder to find the others observing him with undisguised concern.

"What's that look for?" He asked. It wasn't like this was the first time he'd gone into this state in front of them. Though admittedly, during the last time it had been in the middle of a large fight with little time to take in their reactions.

"Wilson…?" Willow ventured, looking more and more disturbed by the moment. "Are you feeling all right?"

All right? Of course he was all right. He was better than all right. He hadn't been this all right in a long time.

"Never better." He answered simply. "Why do you ask?"

"Because of the way you're smiling after having killed that thing…"

He went dead still at that, several moments passing before her words managed to sink in. Slowly raising his free hand up to his face, Wilson realized he was smiling. He'd just slashed a monstrous creature to pieces as though it was something he did for a living, and he was _smiling_ about it.

The expression fell from his face in an instant, replaced by a gaping uncertainty. He could feel the alien presence of whatever force directed his blade shiver with displeasure at his sudden change of heart, but it made no further attempt to override his normal attitude. It wasn't like the first time when it had entirely blocked his mind out in favor of controlling him. He wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad one.

"Uh… Yeah… I'm good." He said again after he'd finished. Some of his doubt must have been showing through because the fire starter moved to question him again before he cut her off. "Really, I'm fine. Let's get going. Don't want to hang around too long in case there are more of those, right?"

A silent staring contest took place between the two of them, Willow pushing to make him explain while he tried to convince her not to. He couldn't rightly tell her about something he himself didn't understand. After half a minute, the battle of wills ended and the young woman turned away with a frown.

"Fine." She stated, her tone making it clear that this was far from over. "We need to get out of this place anyway. All this wet muck is just making me… Ugh…"

With that apt description of all their feelings, they set off once again with the constantly rising pitch of the divining rod as their guide through the murky terrain. Their progress was marked by eight unblinking eyes as they moved, watching them with all the intensity of a skilled predator. No movement went unnoticed, and each nervous twitch served only to whet their owner's appetite.

Silent as an assassin, their pursuer slinked along through the shadows. The hunt was on.


	26. Trial by fire part 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

* * *

><p>Murky bubbles of gas ruptured across the surface of the swamp, sending up fetid clouds of putrefied air to choke and plague those unfortunate enough to be caught in the area. Each one rose from the primordial soup like a corpse breaking free of the grave, slow and unrelenting in their ascent.<p>

The vile stench that clung to every part of this rotting place made life exceedingly difficult for the group of survivors. There was no escaping it. There was no running from it. It was everywhere and everything. Each step forwards was bought with coughing fits and roiling guts as the sickening assault on the senses wormed its way into their bodies.

"We're getting closer at least…" Wilson commented, doing his best to distract them all from their mutual discomfort. His words were met only with mumbled grunts from those behind him who didn't dare to open their mouths for fear of inviting more of the entropy-born fumes into themselves.

No more disheartened than he'd expected to be, the scientist turned himself to face ahead once again. The noise from the divining rod was a sure sign that they were on the right track. That at least, couldn't be masked by the stench of rot that hung so heavily around them.

Despite the oppressive weight of his surroundings, he wasn't able to fully block out the sound of his own thoughts.

He'd been trying his hardest to ignore them. The feeling of power he'd experienced when unleashing his armaments still brushed across his consciousness as his hand gripped the shadowy blade. It was simply irresistible. He wanted something to _use_ it on. Something to face, to cut down, and to vent this pent up energy on.

Wilson was no fool. He could recognize the signs of addiction. Whatever force lay behind the weapon in his hand and the shroud draped across his shoulders wasn't benign or innocent. It was trying to work its way into his mind through the use of these powers. He could recognize that very easily.

The only problem was, he didn't know what he could do about it.

The easiest solution would be to simply discard the knife right away. Quit cold turkey. He could probably do that easily enough given his surroundings. Just rear back his arm and throw. When it sunk into the muck, there's be next to no chance of finding it again.

Sadly, while that route was both straightforward and simple to initiate, it wasn't an option. This thing was a weapon. Just as Willow's staff, Wendy's book, and Wolfgang's hammer were. They were fighting a war right now, and throwing away a valuable tool would be tantamount to suicide.

That left him only one other choice. To endure.

He had to keep control. The shadows made him reckless. Made him feel invincible. He'd been exceedingly lucky during their fight with the machines to have gotten away as intact as he did. Had the others not stepped in when they had, he'd likely have been ground to a pulp, magical armor or no.

It was for that reason that he had to stay absolutely focused. It was for that reason that he had to keep his cool. And, ironically enough, it was for that reason that he was so focused on internal threats and failed to see the external one right in front of him.

Too caught up in his silent vigil to actually _see _where he was going, Wilson didn't notice the massive spider web until he'd run face first into it.

"Gah!"

Feeling the sticky substance smack against his body, he instinctively tried to draw back. It became immediately apparent that the action was a mistake.

Pulling away from the web caused the elastic bands of silk to be dragged taut, resulting in a slingshot effect that yanked him back forwards and caused him to get even more tangled up in its slick fibers.

"Wilson? What happened?" Willow called, approaching from somewhere behind him. "Did you see something?"

"Stay back!" He shouted, causing the group to halt in their tracks immediately. "It's a web. Don't get too close. You guys are going to have to find a way to cut me down. I can't move more than a couple inches."

His arms and legs shuffled around in their white prison to emphasize the point. He was well and truly stuck against a massive web stretching between two large trees. Judging by size alone, this one would have to belong to a spider at least as big as a dog.

"You know…" Willow pondered. He could practically hear her tapping her chin thoughtfully from the tone of her voice alone. "I can think of a way to get you down from there really easily."

"I swear to science, if you set this on fire while I'm stuck in it I'll come back to haunt you for the rest of your life!" Wilson warned hastily.

"Calm down there tough guy." She chuckled. "I'm just saying it's an option is all."

"Well, find a better one." He grumbled, knowing full well that the other three members of their entourage were watching the whole thing with stupid grins on their faces. Maybe not Abigail given her lack of a face, but if she had one she'd probably be grinning as well.

"Just hold tight for a minute." Willow said, as though there was anything else he could hope to do. "We'll see what we can do about getting you down. It's times like this that I wish you hadn't hidden Wendy's ax back at our original basecamp."

Rolling his eyes, Wilson was forced to simply sit quietly as the others looked for a way to free him. Sure there were worse things he could have walked into, but to be caught like some kind of common housefly was nothing short of humiliating. Given how the webbing was stretched across one of the few mostly clear paths through the swamp, it was almost like it had been put there specifically for them to come across.

Wait.

Realization hit him with the force of a train, sending all thoughts of wounded pride fleeing for cover as dozens of alarms went off in his head. Wilson opened his mouth to shout a warning just as he spotted the first signs of movement out of the corner of his eye.

"Ambush!"

An explosion of movement turned the seemingly dead bog into a mass of black chitinous bodies. Swarming out from behind fallen logs, skeletal trees, and mounds of swamp muck, spiders of all shapes and sizes descended on their unwary prey.

Trapped as he was, Wilson could only look on helplessly as the mass of arachnids charged, both skittering across the treetops above and wading through the murky waters below.

"Get back!" Willow ordered, ushering the others behind her with a wave of her hand. "I've got this, just stay behind me."

The scientist strained to look over his shoulder in an attempt to see what she was going to do. His efforts were rewarded with a glimpse of crimson as she readied her staff. Drawing the mystical weapon back like a baseball bat, she intended to sweep it across the approaching hoard and immolate the whole lot of them in one go. It would have been a brilliant plan had she not overlooked one key detail.

"Willow!" Wilson cried out, feeling his stomach drop upon noticing the mistake. "Stop! You ca-"

His warning came too late. Her arms already in motion, she wouldn't have been able to stop the swing even had she known what the result would have been. A cascade of hungry flames poured forth from the gem-tipped staff, eagerly leaping towards the mass of hairy creatures.

And promptly ignited the very air as the thick fumes being given off by the swamp caught fire.

Wilson was fairly used to being assaulted by monsters at this point. They'd been through too much for him not to be. The fear of facing them was still present, but it had slowly faded over time into something manageable. Seeing a wall of flame racing towards him however, was something else entirely.

Unable to do anything else, he opened his mouth to scream in terror as the inferno blasted through the atmosphere only to close it when his common sense kicked in. If you were going to get a face full of anything, molten flame or otherwise, Keep. Your. Mouth. Closed.

He didn't have time to see what happened to the others. He didn't have time to see, _period_. The crackling lights of the quasi-explosion dominated his senses, giving him only a brief second to brace himself before it washed over his body like a volcanic wave.

The heat was unbearable.

Scorching, burning, indescribably hot. It scoured every inch of his exposed body, racing across skin and hair with ravenous energy, determined to peel every ounce of meat from his bones. The shroud of darkness around his torso did a surprisingly good job of protecting the covered areas, but his head and limbs were left to the mercy of the roaring fire. He could feel himself boiling in his own flesh, rippling waves of white hot agony tracing every lick of flame until the bindings holding him in place suddenly released. The heat had become too much for the silken restraints, causing them to snap as their fibers were burned away.

Without warning, gravity asserted its dominance over the hapless young man, yanking him downwards away from the blazing air. He had just enough sense left to hold his breath as the surface of the swamp rose to meet him.

His body was plunged into the brackish waste, submerging him in liquid relief as the flames consuming him were snuffed out on contact. Though the water was likely filled with all manner of infectious parasites, he couldn't bring himself to care. He'd take a serious illness over burning to death any day.

Wilson didn't allow himself time to relish in the relief of the water's embrace. Kicking off the bottom, he rose back above the surface in a rush.

What awaited him was a vision of Hell.

The trees. The spiders. The surface of the water itself. Everything was ablaze with molten fury. Crimson snakes of fire raced across the top of the murky liquid, unable to penetrate beneath as it devoured the toxic components across the upper layer. In places, the flames began to shift in odd colors as they ignited gas pockets, turning green, purple, blue, and even white.

In the murderous dancing light of the chaos, Wilson barely managed to pick out the forms of his friends.

Wendy it seemed, had been saved by quick reflexes. She broke the surface moments after he did, apparently having ducked beneath the water as soon as she'd seen the flames. Though alive, she was far from unscathed. Her clothing was badly charred, and scorch marks lined her back where she'd been too close to the surface. In one hand she cradled the now waterlogged magical book, while the other held her sister's flower, telling him that Abigail hadn't been lucky enough to escape the brunt of the firestorm.

Wolfgang was in much worse shape. His entire upper body was blazing red, all of the clothing above his waist having been burned to ashes. In addition to that, most of his hair (with the mysterious exception of his trademark handlebar mustache) had been scorched from his skin. The strongman was wildly swinging his club to keep spiders at bay while he pawed at his eyes which were streaming tears from the damage they'd endured, effectively blinding him.

Willow was the only one to remain untouched. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised at this point, but she stood entirely safe in the center of the roiling blaze. She swung her staff to and fro, cracking it across the black armored bodies of the spiders that had survived the blast. She didn't dare try using its powers again, for fear of hurting her friends further.

The spiders had suffered a fair number of losses themselves. Many of the frontrunners had been incinerated, leaving only those that had taken shelter in the swamp water alive. The survivors now approached much more carefully, weaving in between the rapidly growing gouts of fire racing across the surface of the bog. Though slowed, they were still closing in with disturbing swiftness. Very soon there wouldn't be anywhere to run.

Thinking fast, Wilson raced forwards. His burns screamed in protest, but he forced those lances of pain into the back of his mind much the way he'd done with the shadows' unwanted probing. He couldn't afford to let himself get distracted right now.

"Everyone follow me, quickly!" He shouted, desperately trying to be heard over the roaring flames. "We need to get out of here right now!"

He didn't bother waiting for any kind of response. Reaching out his free hand, he pulled Wendy forcibly to her feet before grabbing a hold of Wolfgang's shoulder. Thankfully the strongman seemed to recognize his presence and didn't turn to smash him thinking he was a spider.

"Let's go!" He exclaimed, yanking the giant of a man. Though he wasn't physically strong enough to move him, his efforts were enough to communicate his intentions. Wolfgang obediently backpedaled as the scientist directed his movements, Wendy and Willow following close behind.

As far as chases were concerned, it wasn't exactly high speed. The waist-deep muck had far too much material too it for them to move quickly, and the spiders themselves weren't nearly as eager to attack as they'd been initially.

The fire however, kept things going.

It was only by the fickle hand of Lady Luck that they could progress. The flames cascaded in seemingly random paths, following the trails of debris floating atop the mire. Those areas with the densest concentration were the ones that ignited first, while the lesser areas took their time. The result was a gauntlet of flames that wreathed everything in a demonic glow, tormenting the group's every step with the possibility of being cut off and trapped.

"Up ahead!" Willow called, slapping Wilson on the back to make sure she'd gained his attention. "That looks like dry land! We can move faster if we head that way!"

He would have agreed with her, but a sudden inhalation of putrid smoke nearly caused him to double over in a coughing fit. Despite the way his body tried to force the fetid substance from his lungs, he forced himself to remain upright.

It looked as though the spiders had the same idea. They'd given up trying to pursue the humans through the maze of molten heat, and had instead opted for the much safer route of fleeing for their lives. No doubt they'd be back eventually, Maxwell's creatures hadn't given up easily so far, but it bought the survivors precious time to save their own skins without fighting back a hoard of homicidal monsters.

"The door!"

Wendy's smoke-chocked voice cut through the deafening roar of the inferno like a beacon of deliverance straight from high heaven. Though nobody could have heard it over the flames, the divining rod had been growing increasingly energetic during their flight. The wall of fire had directed them across the swamp and right to the doorway.

Which just so happened to be located in the middle of an enormous spider den.

Giant mounds of webbing were piled up on either side of the escape route, and scores of the oversized creatures were already pouring out of their nests to bar the way. The encroaching flames had stirred them into a frenzy, and their instincts for self-preservation battled with their need to defend the hive.

"Just keep going!" Willow urged, pushing them forwards. "We don't need to fight them! Just make a break for the doorway!"

She was right. In the chaos of the wildfire, the spiders were having trouble organizing any kind of a reaction, much less a defense. Most of them simply ran about in mass confusion, their minds unable to figure out how to combat the burning, crackling threat that had presented itself.

Wilson and his friends reached the edge of the webbing mere moments before the fire did, racing in an all-out sprint now that they were no longer bogged down by the swamp. Those few arachnids that tried to stop them met a swift end as the scientist's sabre cut them down in a flash of pure midnight.

Elation tugged at his heart as they neared their goal. This was it. The fourth world. They were about to break through to the final stretch. No more than a hundred yards away was the key to their escape, flanked by twin towers of spider silk, like some kind of disturbing, incomplete archway.

He smiled in adrenaline-fueled relief as they neared the exit.

His smile faltered as one of the piles of webbing began to shudder.

His heart dropped as it started to _stand up._

His expression turned from one of joy to one of terror as eight massive eyes locked onto the rapidly approaching group.

His terror increased ten thousand fold as he saw the black armored talon raise for a strike.

Time slowed to a crawl. In the mad rush for freedom and the total madness of their surroundings, the others hadn't spotted the gargantuan spider queen. Their eyes only just began to register the threat as its razor sharp limb arced towards them.

"MOVE!"

Even as he yelled the warning at the top of his lungs, he knew it had come too late. There was no time to dodge. No time to run. He could do nothing.

That moment was one Wilson would remember for the rest of his life. No matter how long he lived, or how far he came from that instant, the sound of that singular event would continue to haunt him.

The shriek of the wind as the bladed appendage streaked towards them. The wet snap of tearing flesh, followed by the crack of breaking bone and the dull thud of the limb burying itself into the earth beneath their feet.

The earsplitting scream of agony that tore through his mind even as the image of its owner seared itself into his eyes.

"_WILLOW!"_

His own scream was lost in the maelstrom of noise and movement, becoming nothing more than another section of the hellish orchestra playing out before him. The spider's enormous limb pried itself free from the ground, raising back up into the air with the fire starter still connected to the end of it.

Willow was skewered through the shoulder, a steady trail of crimson streaming down to the needle-sharp point of the arachnid's leg. She spasmed on the end of the deadly implement, her mouth opening and closing in silent shrieks as her mind struggled to endure the trauma of being impaled.

Seeming to notice its baggage for the first time, the spider growled before shaking its leg roughly to dislodge the young woman. She was torn free from the appendage with a sickening sound of muscle being shredded apart. Falling the ten or so feet from her gruesome perch, she hit the ground like a broken marionette. She didn't get back up.

In that instant, the world around Wilson ceased to exist. There was no fire. No doorway. Not even Wolfgang or Wendy. There was just Wilson himself, the spider queen, and Willows fallen form.

In that instant, for the first time in his life, the scientist knew the meaning of true hatred.

The shadows felt his shock, his grief, and his unrestrained anger. They raced into his consciousness, latching onto the emotions and dragging them into the forefront of Wilson's mind. He could have resisted if he'd wanted to.

He just didn't want to.

Those burning feelings rebounded over one another, feeding into themselves and growing exponentially more powerful with every passing second. Through the red haze that descended on his vision, he could see the monstrous spider preparing for another strike. He didn't know who it was aiming for next. He didn't care. It wasn't going to get the chance to attack.

A wordless scream of rage and anguish tore itself from the scientist's throat as he surged forwards. The distance between him and his target was instantly reduced to nothing in his headlong charge, causing the beast to redirect its attention to the most prominent threat. Its pitch-black talon struck downwards towards his frail form, intent on piercing his body the same way it had done to Willow.

Wilson didn't dodge. He didn't so much as blink as the chitin spear fell. Whipping his blade upwards, he met the point of the limb head on.

And cut straight through it.

A shocked hiss of pain emanated from deep within the body of the enormous spider as it stared uncomprehending at its now severed leg. Before it even had a chance to process the loss of part of its body, Wilson was already swinging again. His sabre cut a bloody swath across its other front leg, causing it to roar out in genuine agony.

The spider queen tried to take pressure off of its newly maimed appendage by shifting its weight to the other side, only to remember that the other limb had already been sliced apart. All the while, the scientist moved in a blur of merciless fury.

Two more swings of the sword and two more of the spider's legs were cut at the knee, causing the bulky creature to tip precariously. Unable to keep up with its tiny assailant, it suddenly found itself doing battle with both the human and gravity as it fought to stay upright and out of his reach.

It was a losing battle.

One more diagonal cut and the spider queen lurched to the side as its body weight carried it to the ground. The walking nest hit the earth with a massive crunch, flattening the entire right side of the web-housing on its back as it cried out for aid from its many soldiers. The other spiders were thrown into a mad rush as they were driven to aid their queen only to be rendered unable to do so as the flames consumed their home.

Wilson saw none of this. All he could see was the exposed stomach of his foe lying before him. He launched forwards in blind anger, dodging the wild thrashing of the felled giant. Five bounds brought him within striking distance and he wasted no time in getting to work.

The sword in his hands was a blur of motion as he struck out with every ounce of strength he had. He slashed at the spider in a frenzied hurricane of blows, carving open flesh and exoskeleton with every attack. The dying wails of the towering creature only served to drive him deeper into his mindless assault.

In his madness he knew nothing else than the relentless swings that brought his weapon sinking into the flesh of his foe. He didn't notice as the struggles of the spider queen slackened and ceased entirely. He didn't notice as Wendy dragged both the blinded Wolfgang and the twitching form of Willow to the doorway, racing the approaching fires. He didn't notice as she pulled on the lever and opened the path to escape. He only became aware of a change when the hands erupted from Maxwell's door and began dragging him away from the savaged body of the spider.

He yelled out in frustration as the chains of darkness began to pull him from his victim. He struggled against them with all the strength he had left, intent on hacking the corpse apart until there was nothing left. Deep in the recesses of his mind, the part of him that was still sane screamed at him to stop, but its voice was nothing compared to the goading of the shadows in his head. They pushed him further and further from sanity. Driving him to rage. To fight. To destroy.

Even as he was pulled into the open doorway, he could feel the sinister grins of unnatural beings looking down upon him. In that singular remaining part of his scientific brain, he shuddered. They'd been watching him. Testing him. Whether he'd passed or failed was impossible to tell.

A dark sense of foreboding quickly quelled the anger in his heart as the shadows released him. Falling into the abyss of the doorway, Wilson's mind went blank.


	27. Heart of darkness part 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters **

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><p>Willow had been told several things about dying over the years. For starters, she knew that when you saw your death coming, you were supposed to have your life flash before your eyes.<p>

That was a lie. Upon realizing that her life was in danger, nothing of the sort had occurred. Or if it did, she'd ignored the whole thing because of how intently she'd been in staring at that wicked claw. Any semblance of thought had long since fled her mind in favor of primal panic.

Another thing she'd heard was that your body would essentially shut off your pain receptors when suffering from a massively traumatic injury. She wasn't sure what qualified as such a wound, but after being impaled she was fairly sure that was pretty false as well.

She'd felt every moment of the pain. What's more, she'd felt the _variety_ of it all. She'd been forced to endure the blinding wave of white hot agony that came when her flesh was pierced right through. She'd struggled against the anguish of being dangled on that claw like a fish on a line. She'd suffered the mind-numbing torment of having her body torn free as well as the hammer blow of being slammed into the ground.

It had been Hell. Too painful to even scream. Had she not emptied the contents of her stomach earlier thanks to the putrid stink of the swamp, she was fairly sure she'd have been sick at some point during the skewering.

The last rumor she'd been told was that, when you finally reached the end, you were supposed to see a light. She was beginning to think that was also a fabrication.

Upon opening her eyes, Willow was met with a sight that looked almost exactly the same as the insides of her eyelids had looked. Darkness. As far as she could see into the sky was nothing but pure, unbroken, darkness. No stars. No moon. No anything. It was like staring into a suffocating blanket of inky emptiness. The sheer weight of the non-substance pressed down on her chest like a tub of lead, making it difficult for her to even draw in a single breath.

Somehow though, air managed to find its way into her compressed lungs little by little. Breathe in. Breathe out. A simple steady rhythm that she could hardly believe was something she normally did without thinking.

After an indiscernible amount of time, she became aware of a crackling sound emanating from all around her. It was something she was very intimately familiar with.

Fire.

That was right wasn't it? She'd started that massive fire in the swamp. Was it the same fire she was hearing now? No, couldn't be. She'd been stabbed by that freakishly large spider. There was no way she could be in the same place after a wound like that. If she was hearing flames, it wasn't the ones she'd started.

That was strange though, if she'd been stabbed why didn't she feel it anymore? Maybe there was something to that whole 'nerves shutting down' thing after all. Idly, her hand made its way over to her injured shoulder to test the area. She pulled back the torn fabric of her top and her heart nearly stopped upon feeling the skin underneath.

Smooth, undamaged, and fully intact.

No. Nope. Not happening. That simply wasn't going to fly. Not even her slightly off-kilter mind could ignore the fact that her shoulder, having previously been splattered into a mass of meat and bone, was now perfectly fine as though it had never happened. This world might be ten different kinds of crazy, but that was pushing it just a little too far.

The way she saw it, there were two possibilities. The first, and the one she wasn't all that fond of, was that she was dead and this was all some sort of purgatory. That seemed pretty likely given how gruesome the injury had been. Even if she hadn't died outright from it, there was the distinct likelihood that she'd have bled out or simply shut down from the trauma after a while.

Despite the logic behind that conclusion, somehow it didn't seem quite right in her mind. She felt too… solid. Too _here_. If this was some kind of life after death, she didn't think it would be nearly as physical as her previous one had been. Souls didn't have a lot of substance after all.

The other option, which seemed to be the much less likely of the two, was that she'd been fixed somehow. Willow didn't know how long she'd been out for, but going from pulverized into something resembling ground beef to a perfectly smooth patch of skin wasn't something that happened overnight. Or at all for that matter. There should have at least been some kind of scarring assuming the wound was capable of healing in the first place.

One thing was for certain. She wasn't going to get any answers lying on her back.

Well… she _might_, but she wasn't feeling patient enough to wait and find out.

Bolstering her resolve against the looming unknown, the fire starter pushed off the coarse grass beneath her and worked her way into a sitting position. Her surroundings proved to be more ominous than she'd anticipated.

Darkness. Everywhere she looked, there was vast swathes of darkness. Just like the sky. Too thick to be natural, it drowned out everything it touched in a sheet of pure black. This wasn't the kind of dark you saw in the dead of night. It was the kind you saw in a place without any word for light. A world where the sun was such a foreign concept that it was simply inconceivable.

The only reason she could see at all was because of the five large campfires burning in a circle around her, set up equidistant from one another like some dark pagan ritual. Each flaming mound served as a barrier against the shadows, keeping them at bay with dancing tongues of heat and illumination. The whole thing was set up in a wooded area not unlike the one she'd first met up with the others in.

The others! Willow's mind immediately turned around at the memory of her companions. What had happened to them? Were they all right? Had they managed to escape?

A slight shuffling of dead leaves brought her attention to one of the other forms which had gone unnoticed up until that point.

Wendy rose shakily to her feet from the bed of foliage she'd been deposited in. It was a frightening sight. In the sheer darkness of their surroundings, her pale features and piercing expression made her look nothing short of ghastly.

Willow however, felt nothing but relief upon seeing the gaunt child.

Not far from her, Wolfgang's bulky shape stirred with a large groan. He pushed himself over in a display that was not unlike a massive bear waking from a long hibernation. Oddly enough, he was missing his shirt but looked otherwise unharmed. Seeing their surroundings, he blinked in confusion several times. His utterly lost expression made the fire starter feel just a little bit better about her own confusion.

"Wendy! Wolfgang! Glad to see you're all right." She called, making her way over to the pair. Her voice brought both of their gazes back to her. "What happened back there? Do either of you know?"

The lumbering strongman rose to his feet with a shrug of his shoulders and a strained grimace.

"Not know what happen." He stated. "Fire get in eyes. Couldn't see anything. Little girl pull me somewhere, but I not see where. Can see now though, but not much around too look at."

"Oh… Right… Sorry about that." Willow replied sheepishly, cringing at the memory of her failed attempt to stave off the spiders. "I really didn't expect everything to blow up like that. Are you hurt? Did the burns leave any lasting damage?"

Seeing her obvious guilt over the mishap, Wolfgang put on a slightly strained, but still reassuring, smile.

"Is not hurt. I is too strong for little flames to keep down. Is mighty man!" He declared, sounding enough like his old self to keep her from worrying too much.

"I'm glad." She said, the relief evident in her voice. Turning towards the smaller of the two, she addressed Wendy. "What about you? How did you hold up? I didn't get a chance to make sure everyone was still intact."

Observing the fire starter with those too-large eyes for a pause, she simply offered a brief nod.

"I was unharmed for the most part." She said, directing a meaningful glance down to the object in her hands. When Willow realized what it was, she felt the lead weight of guilt drop right back into the middle of her stomach. "Abigail however, wasn't. I don't think she'll be joining us in this world after that. Then there's also the matter of… him…"

At this, her focus had shifted to something over Willow's shoulder. Turning to look at the object of the girl's attention, she met eyes with the last member of their group.

Wilson looked, for lack of a better term, like crap. His face bore the expression of a shell-shocked war veteran, and his entire body was shaking so badly it was a wonder he was even able to get to his feet. The sheer look of crushing grief in his form was so strong that Willow could practically feel it radiating off him in waves. She opened her mouth in shock, about to ask just what had happened to cause this when his eyes met hers.

Time stood still in that moment. The tremors that had been running up and down his body stilled instantly, leaving behind a kind of impossible motionlessness in his stature as though he'd suddenly been turned to stone. His face was unreadable, a mere blank slate as he stared uncomprehending at the young woman in front of him. The whole world held its breath, somehow being aware of the singular moment of absolute disbelief.

In an instant, everything came crashing down. Wilson's empty expression melted into one of pure shock before he lurched forwards. Willow didn't even have a chance to speak before his arms had wrapped around her in a bone crushing embrace, clinging tight as though he feared she might vanish if he loosened his grip even slightly.

"Oh my god…" His breathless words sounded jagged and broken, like they'd been forced out past a mountain of rubble in his throat. "Oh my god…"

Those three words were repeated over and over like the words of a sacred prayer. Judging by his tone, that likely wasn't far off the truth. He sounded nothing short of awestruck.

She didn't know how long the two of them stayed like that, held in a sort of desperate hug which would have been more fitting for two people who hadn't seen each other in years. The amount of time didn't bother her though. What bothered her was the fact that Wilson was reacting in such a way. Her mind, still fogged over by the rapid transition of scenery and events, had yet to connect his emotional outburst with her near-death experience.

"Uh… Good to see you too." She offered, struggling somewhat to get the words out. "Do you think you could ease up a bit? This makes it pretty tough to breathe."

At her request he, rather reluctantly, backed off so that he was merely holding onto her shoulders instead of cracking her ribcage. Despite the fact that she was unharmed, he was apparently unwilling to let go. The thought threatened to cause a flush of heat in her cheeks, but she held it at bay. Now wasn't the time for such things.

"Willow…" He choked out, his voice still sounding so very damaged. "How… How are you…?"

"You're welcome."

The flat statement caused them both to spin, realizing that they weren't alone. Wendy and Wolfgang stood observing them, the strongman looking somewhere between awkwardly and slightly embarrassed by the scene while the girl appearing decidedly unimpressed.

"You can thank me later." Wendy said, having been the voice that spoke up in the first place. "It seems I really am the only one who pays any attention around here."

"What are you talking about?" Willow asked while trying, unsuccessfully, to ease the scientist's grip on her shoulders.

The child heaved a light sigh before shaking her head.

"The rules, remember?" She offered. "Before, Wilson and I nearly died in the snow. After we went through the doorway, we were both back in fine health. The damage we sustained was healed. It stands to reason that being maimed by a spider before passing through shouldn't carry over either."

Willow wasn't at all sure what unnerved her more. The knowledge that her brutalization at the hands (claws?) of an overgrown arachnid had been real and not just a fever dream, or the way that Wendy managed to say such reality defying things with the surety of one saying that water is wet and gravity makes things fall. There were dozens of different questions she could have asked at that point, but one in particular stood out to her.

"Wait a minute." Willow said, finally prying Wilson's hands away and taking a step back for the sake of her personal space. "If that was all real, how'd you get past the spider?"

Wolfgang perked up at this question, looking curiously to the other two members of the group. Having been blinded, he hadn't seen much of what happened beyond exceedingly blurry outlines.

A dead silence fell. For a moment, it seemed almost like the inquiry had been a giant off switch which had rendered the two of them speechless.

Instead of looking to Willow, Wendy turned her eyes towards the scientist with a meaningful stare. He in turn, dawned an expression which could only be described as horrified.

"I… I…" He stuttered, unable to force out any words past the dread that had taken hold of him. For reasons the fire starter couldn't understand, his face was becoming paler by the second. "I… I… thought…"

"He killed it." Wendy said at last, cutting off his feeble verbalizations while offering the bare minimum amount of information necessary.

Oh no you don't. Willow had been holding her doubts in check for a while now. She knew something was up and she wasn't about to let her questions be brushed aside in such a manner. She turned back to Wilson to demand that he tell her exactly what had occurred-

And immediately felt her resolve crumble upon seeing his face.

He looked pitiful. Grief and worry saturated his features in equal measure with relief. There was no doubt that his reaction was caused by her injury and subsequent recovery. Knowing that was enough to still her tongue before she could bring herself to voice her interrogation.

"Willow, I'm sorry." He said, not sounding at all like he knew just what he was apologizing for. "I just… I'm just so glad you're all right. I had thought I'd… uh… we'd lost you back there."

He was like a kicked puppy. A big, dumb, genius puppy. The part of her mind that wanted answers grumbled in frustration at her weakness, but the rest of her just ignored it.

"You'll have to do better than that to get rid of me." She assured, doing what she could to make light of the situation. It wasn't like this had been the first time they're lives had been in danger. Maybe the closest call, but not the first. "Besides. Even if a spider _could _finish me off, I'd-"

The rest of her sentence was forcibly halted as hurricane force winds blasted through the clearing, nearly toppling over the group in their fury. The deafening gale threw up clouds of debris and stones, though strangely left their bonfires entirely intact. By the time it died down, its source became immediately apparent.

Just as with all their previous worlds, the host of this maddened competition had arrived to greet them in person. This time however, he was vastly different.

Gone was the feigned pleasantry. Gone was the aura of ease and condescension. This wasn't the Maxwell who was here to mock his playthings while they stumbled through his proving grounds. This was Maxwell the overseer. The lord and creator of all they could see. The absolute tyrant who held their very survival in the palm of his hands.

And He. Was. Pissed.

Though no taller than any members of their party, he loomed over them like an obelisk of obsidian rage against the backdrop of the darkness. His very presence exuded raw power, the likes of which no mortal had any right to possess. Every breath he took told the tail of barely contained wrath his mental fortitude was holding in check.

"You pitiful, worthless, _insignificant, INSECTS!_" He roared, his voice booming out across the silenced landscape. "You DARE throw my offer of paradise back in my face!? You DARE test the patience of the great Maxwell!?"

Even had she been at her most defiant, Willow doubted she could have come up with any kind of response. His sheer malevolence was like a physical force which drowned out any thought of resistance.

"So be it then. If you think so highly of yourselves, let us see just how strong your will to live is. No more games. No more toys. This time, your deaths are assured."

His eyes seemed to bore right into her, piercing into her very soul. There was so much fearsome power in that gaze. It was that of a dragon peering down at the peasants who'd intruded on its most treasured inner sanctum.

"Take a deep breath fools. You have precious few of them left."

Not giving them a chance to even think of a response, the sinister apparition of their demented host vanished as suddenly as he had appeared. Empty quite was left behind after the unexpected intrusion. Nobody knew quite how to react.

Something pecked at the back of Willow's mind. It was impossible to deny that Maxwell had been absolutely furious in his declaration. That fact alone was enough to instill true fear in her heart. He might have been a sociopath, but he didn't seem like the kind of man who was prone to such fits of rage.

That wasn't all though. There was one small detail, one minute piece that didn't seem to fit in her eyes. During his whole tirade, there had been one moment, one singular note in his enraged voice, where his anger had almost sounded like more of a challenge than a deterrent. It had been a tiny thing, so miniscule that she couldn't be sure she hadn't simply imagined it. But if it was real…

If she didn't know better, she might have thought Maxwell _wanted_ them to come.

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><p>In another life, Wilson might have been surprised by how quickly they all transitioned from being shouted at by Maxwell to taking stock of their supplies. They'd been through the routine so many times that it had become automatic. They could go through the motions with mechanical precision even while their minds were still reeling from their previous experience.<p>

His mind however, was reeling from something else entirely.

Willow was alive.

Those three words meant everything. It was like witnessing a sunrise for the first time in your life. Experiencing the joy of a new day after you'd feared that you'd be trapped in an eternal night. It was indescribable. Pure and honest relief in its most brilliant form.

She was alive.

When he'd seen her ravaged in such a way, it had awakened something that had been growing in his heart for some time now. He'd lost all fear of what could happen to him. He'd no longer cared. All that had mattered was that she'd been hurt. He'd thrown himself at the monster with a total disregard for his own safety, allowing those intruding shadows to warp his reality until he'd become nothing more than a killing machine. All because he'd thought she was gone.

He didn't know the word to describe it. Despite his exceedingly impressive vocabulary, nothing quite fit. He wanted to say it was love, but could that truly be the case? He cared for her a great deal, there was no doubt about that, but his crumbling into madness had been so… dark. Intense. From what he understood, love was a pure emotion. Something that inspired songs and poetry, not fear and violence. He might have spent more effort agonizing over his questioned feelings, but there was one simple fact that kept him from worrying.

She was still alive.

As he held the divining rod, his mind was still stuck to the knowledge that she had survived. It was a salve that kept his terrors at bay, at least for the moment. And it was all because of-

"You still haven't thanked me you know."

Wilson jumped visibly at Wendy's voice. Struggling against the urge to whip around, he slowly turned in the calmest manner he could manage. Sure enough, the girl was standing behind him having snuck up without his noticing.

Not that such a thing would have been difficult given how enraptured he was in his own little world.

"You're right. Thank you Wendy." He said, bowing his head slightly as he did so. "I'd lost it back there. If it wasn't for your quick thinking… I don't even want to know what might have happened. Thank you."

She blinked once, observing him with her keen gaze. Wilson was about to say something else when she spoke up.

"I felt them too."

His breath caught in his throat as his mind ground to a halt. The words he'd half formed died without ever being uttered, forgotten in their entirety with the sudden turn. It took several moments for him to regain his sense, and when he did his voice was far less steady than he'd have liked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He lied. It was an obvious bluff, and she had no trouble seeing through it.

"Those things that were working their way into your head." She continued, speaking as calmly as if she were discussing a mild change in the weather. "I felt them. I know that they're the things behind your sword and armor. Why is it that you haven't mentioned this before?"

For an instant, he felt a surge of irritation run through him. Who was she to question him? She was just a child, where as he was the one who'd tapped into forces beyond human understanding. _HE _was the one with the power to control those things. _HE _was the one who'd struck down the spider queen.

Those thoughts were immediately crushed. He knew full well that they stemmed from the same source as his rage and power. They were not natural to his mind.

"I didn't feel the need to worry everyone." He said honestly, keeping all traces of the foreign emotion out of his tone. "These… things… whatever they are, are useful. Just like your spell book or Willow's staff. I need to use them, and there wasn't any point in making a fuss about them."

She continued staring at him, but this time he met her steady gaze with his own. He knew that they couldn't afford to throw away such valuable tools in a place like this. It simply wasn't intelligent.

"I see." She said at last. "Wilson. There are far worse things out there than death. I hope you understand that. I don't know what those beings you're using are, but I know that they're far from kind. They were old. Hungry. Wilson. They frightened me in ways I don't care to speak of. Whatever you're doing with them, be careful. Escaping this place won't do you any good if you become a prisoner of your own mind."

With that ominous warning, the morbid girl turned away from him to make her way over to Willow and Wolfgang. The scientist watched her go without making a sound. Her words sent a chill through his body that was colder than ice.

_They frightened me in ways I don't care to speak of…_

That couldn't be good. She'd always been sensitive to the strange forces that drove this place. If it was enough to scare her, he knew it was very sinister indeed.

_There are far worse things out there than death…_

True perhaps, but a tad dark for his tastes. Why couldn't they brave the unknown _and_ get out alive? Why did it always have to be one or the other?

_Escaping this place won't do you any good if you become a prisoner of your own mind…_

That one stuck fast in his thoughts. How close had it been to becoming a reality? He'd slipped into the dark when he saw Willow hurt. Had Wendy not pulled that lever and opened the doorway, he might have fallen entirely. What would have become of him then?

Suppressing a shudder, the young man turned his attention back to the task at hand. They still had a job to do and he couldn't afford to be distracted now.

The cost of failure was far too high for that.


	28. Heart of darkness part 2

**If there was one thing I never liked about 'The Darkness' in Don't Starve (aside from the numerous times it killed me) it was that level's lack of personality. Other than being eternal night and having cool lights dotting the landscape, it was more or less a normal world. A bit anticlimactic in my opinion. I'm planning to add a bit more flavor to the mix in this.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

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><p><em>They say that when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares right back. <em>

That cheerful thought slipped through Wilson's mind as his eyes struggled to peer into the impermeable wall of darkness that lay just outside their ring of campfires. At first he'd merely suspected that they'd arrived in this new world in the dead of night by mere coincidence. After several hours of waiting, he was beginning to understand that this wasn't the case. While the group had patiently sat back, keeping their sources of light burning with whatever scraps of wood they could find, the shadows hadn't dissipated in the slightest.

Put simply, he no longer believed morning was coming.

It was the perfect defense really. In a world of eternal night, they had no way of making steady progress. Any materials they gathered would be repurposed to making torches. They'd be working on a clock to ensure that their source of light didn't go out, and he was under no illusions that they'd be able to move forwards in the dark. That… thing… was no doubt waiting for them just out of sight. Wilson might have been able to keep it at bay once, but that had felt more like the retreat of a surprised attacker rather than an actual victory on his part. Now that it knew he could fight back, he wasn't at all sure that he'd be able to face it a second time.

The scientist let out a weary sigh. Where had this feeling of defeatism come from? He'd just taken down a spider the size of a small house. Who was to say that the beast in the dark would fare any different?

Even as he thought those words, he knew they weren't true. The creature out there just… felt different. That was the best way he could describe it. There was a sense of intelligence. None of Maxwell's other monsters had that. Oh, some of them were clever and all, but none of them felt _smart_. They were more like aggressive machines designed to kill off intruders. No matter how well you programmed them, they simply couldn't compare to a sentient mind.

Charlie was different. Wilson knew that for certain. He didn't know how he knew, only that it was a fact he couldn't deny. Part of him suspected it may be due to the shadows that had been invading his mind. Maybe they'd conveyed information about the malignant shade, or maybe he'd just recognized what it was to be hunted by something that could operate in a calculating manner.

That was the second problem of course. After his brief loss of control, all the old stigma about his weapon had come roaring back with a vengeance. It hadn't tried to force its way into his mind that time. It had instead magnified the emotions that had already been present to its advantage. He'd willingly let it take over, and that frightened him.

Even now, after having lived through the experience of having his mind reduced to a maelstrom of rage and anger, he still felt the dagger's pull. He wanted it but he didn't want it. He needed it but he couldn't stand it. He had to have it but he had to stay away. Just standing there, it was taking up most of his willpower to keep from leaping into the wall of darkness and sheathing himself in its embrace. He could feel how strongly this place resonated with the presence in his weapon, and it was making his life very, _very_, difficult.

He didn't turn as he heard the sound of footsteps drawing near from behind. Instead, he merely raised a hand to acknowledge that he heard the second party's approach.

"What do we have to work with?" He asked, relatively confident that they'd come to inform him of their current supply levels.

"Not a lot." Willow replied, drawing even with him and tapping the side of his head lightly. "You probably shouldn't be wasting your time staring out into the dark like that. It can't be healthy for your brain."

Though made in jest, her comment was somewhat closer to the truth than he'd have liked.

"How about a bit more detail?" He asked, trying to get back on the topic of their immediate progression. "If we want to make a plan, we'll need to know exactly how much supplies we've got at our disposal. I doubt that we'd just be able to wing it with this one."

The fire starter folded her arms, casting a cursory glance in the direction he was facing. Shaking her head at his statuesque staring contest with nothing, gave him the rundown.

"Enough tinder and grasses around to make about four torches. What's left on the fires should last about another half hour or so, but after that we'll be on our own. My lighter, as you may recall, is all out of fuel so that won't be helping all that much."

"That's probably fine." Wilson said absentmindedly. "I doubt the lighter would have provided enough light to keep all four of us safe."

"Maybe, but it would have been better than nothing." Willow replied. "According to Wendy, Abigail isn't going to be coming back any time soon. She can't feel her presence through the flower, and we don't exactly have all that much time to wait around for her to arrive, so that's another source of illumination gone."

"So do we have anything else?" Wilson questioned, growing mildly concerned by their sorry state. "Or is it time for me to start panicking yet? I feel like I'm really overdue for a panic attack at this point."

Instead of answering, the fire starter gestured back towards the pile of supplies they'd organized in the middle of the campfires. At first, Wilson wasn't at all sure what she was alluding towards. Other than the divining rod, her staff, and some basic materials they still had left, there wasn't much to see. Their food supplies were also dangerously low, but he'd worry about that after the immediate threat of-

Oh. Wait a minute.

Her staff.

He shot the woman a quizzical glance just to be sure, and she nodded in confirmation.

"I can use the staff you gave me to give off a fair bit of light." She explained. "I'm thinking that'll be what we have to use first. Only light the torches if we have no other choice. We'd go through things way too quickly otherwise."

"Can you keep something like that up?" The scientist questioned. He wasn't aware of the intricacies of using the jeweled rod, but he doubted it was as simple as thinking flames into existence. There had to be a price behind it. Nothing in Maxwell's homicidal playground came free, not even the stuff Wilson had invented himself.

She shrugged.

"Don't really have much of a choice now do we?" She offered, putting on a brave smile to show she wasn't concerned about the tax behind her tools. "Besides, if ever there was a time to put forth extra effort, I'd think now would be it. This is the home stretch, remember? One more world and we get to all go home!"

Her last words were punctuated with an almost girlish strained giggle. The kind of noise that didn't quite fall under into any one category, but was instead a mixture of excitement, trepidation, relief, and anxiety.

"Home…"

Wilson's voice was so soft he couldn't be sure it had been heard over the crackling of the fires behind him.

Home.

He hardly even remembered what that meant anymore. How long had it been since he'd first opened that blasted doorway? Months? Years? It felt like a lifetime ago. He wondered how things would have changed. Would someone have noticed his absence and cleared out his equipment? Would they have left it the way it was, expecting him to return to it at any time?

Home.

It had seemed like such a far off goal when they'd begun. Five worlds. A dream to chase through each of them. But now… now it wasn't a dream anymore, was it? This was a real, tangible reality. It was within their reach.

"Yeah." He agreed at last, offering his own shaky smile in response to hers. "Let's finish this."

No more words were spoken. No more were needed. Together, the fire starter and the scientist turned their back to the looming wall of shadows and headed back into their camp to make their final preparations.

It was time to go home.

* * *

><p>Wolfgang didn't like this place. Not one bit. Admittedly, he hadn't liked most of the worlds they'd fought through, but this one in particular really didn't agree with him.<p>

Put simply, it was _dark!_

There were times when the strongman knew he wasn't the bravest of people despite his incredible strength. Monsters frightened him. Spiders scared him. Heck, even the trees unnerved him a fair bit after their encounter with the living forest way back when.

More than any of that though, he really, _really_, didn't like the dark.

Even if he was scared of a monster, he could fight back. He could hit it, or stomp on its foot, or just throw things at it in order to do something productive. Before the darkness however, he was utterly helpless. He couldn't fight back. He couldn't drive it off no matter how hard he tried. It had no form, but it didn't need one in order to drive his terrified imagination wild with images of what could lurk behind every shadow.

That was why he hated the darkness. And that was why Wendy was having a very bad day today.

"EEP!" A significantly-less-than-manly squeal erupted from Wolfgang's throat as movement flittered past his vision. For the fifth time since they'd started heading out, the massive strongman instinctively dove behind the nearest form of cover.

Which happened to be a certain blonde haired child in this instance.

"Wolfgang, if you touch me again, I'll gut you and leave your body in an unmarked grave!" Wendy snapped, thoroughly annoyed at having her personal space violated for the umpteenth time in a row. Her little outburst caused Wilson and Willow to pause, letting the light from the fire starter's staff settle on their surroundings.

"Is something wrong?" The scientist questioned, raising an eyebrow at the odd sight that was Wolfgang trying to cower behind someone less than half his size.

The strongman started to reply, only to have his words cut off with another shriek as the darting object shot back into view. In his haste to back away from it, he ended up tripping over his own feet and falling to the ground. This only served as a momentary delay. No sooner had he struck the dirt than he began frantically scrambling away as the drifting continued its flight directly for him.

Before the object of his fears could reach his fallen form, Wendy's hand shot out and deftly snatched it out of the air. With a meaningful gesture, she held the object forward so that he could get a better look at just what had been causing his distress.

A leaf.

In his defense, it was a rather big one.

The girl's fingers closed around the tiny piece of foliage with slow, calculated movements. She ground it to a fine powder in the palm of her hand before opening it back up again and letting the crumbled remains scatter into the eternal night. Never once did she speak a word during the process, and never once did her glare leave Wolfgang's sheepish face.

Several awkward moments passed before Wilson decided they'd paused for long enough.

"Okay then…" He said, coughing lightly into his hand. "If that's sorted out, how about we get going again?"

Feeling the burning sensation of the blonde girl's eye's boring into the back of his head, Wolfgang hastily nodded in an attempt to change the subject from his latest mishap. Without a word, the group began to move forwards once again, listening carefully to the subtle changes in tone coming from the Divining Rod in Wilson's hands. For his part, the strongman clutched his oversized hammer closer to his chest while directing suspicious glances into the forest on either side of him. _That _one might have just been a leaf, but you could never be too careful.

It was hard to tell where they were going to be honest. Very little stood out against the inky blackness that surrounded them, and the only natural light seemed to come from passing groups of fireflies. The ground was rough underfoot, and there was a slight chill in the air, but that was about all Wolfgang could hope to tell about this place. For all he knew they could be in the middle of a rolling plain, or a rocky quarry. It all looked the same when you painted it in shadows.

It was for that exact reason that he failed to see the unsteady footing ahead until it was too late.

Without even realizing it, the group had been walking parallel to a drop in the terrain. Wolfgang, who'd drifted off to the side slightly with his meandering stride, had the misfortune of taking just one step too far, and upsetting the loosely packed soil.

When his foot came down and the dirt shifted beneath him, several things happened at once.

First, the sudden loss of support caused his weight to land improperly on the limb, robbing him of balance and driving him towards the edge.

Second, the low hissing of falling silt filled the air as the edge of the rise began to tremble in a chain reaction caused by the unsettling movement he'd started.

Third, a sharp cry issued from the strongman's throat as he felt himself lurch inexorably towards the unseen drop that he'd unknowingly wandered towards.

Forth, and perhaps the very thing that saved his life, the others paused at the sound of his distress. Realizing too late that the ground beneath their feet was moving, they were pulled towards the gap as well. Had they kept going, they'd likely have been able to escape the miniature landslide, but doing so would have left Wolfgang plunging into the dark alone with no source of light. Thankfully for all of them, Willow's grip on her staff never faltered, even when she herself was tipping over.

Of course, Wolfgang wasn't all that aware of the details. He only had enough time to figure that something wasn't right before the disturbed land dragged him away from safer ground.

With mixed shouts of surprise and fear, the group fell with a moving blanket of soil guiding their descent. The strongman struggled to gain any sort of purchase in order to right himself and stop the painful tumble, but each grasp for solid dirt only came away with crumbling debris. That very same substance quickly filled his mouth, sending him into a fit of coughing as he was thrown about and preventing him from calling out to the others.

The head over heels descent came to an abrupt halt as they reached the bottom of the hill. Wolfgang, Wilson, Wendy, Willow, and several dozen pounds of loose gravel all landed together in an ungainly heap.

The strongman struggled against the mound of dirt that had buried half his body, freeing himself with a mighty heave whose force sent him falling flat on his rear end. Coughing up pieces of soil and struggling to see in the eerie glow of the fire staff's light, he squinted in an attempt to locate the others.

"Friends? Where is friends gone?" He called. "Don't worry! Wolfgang will save you!"

Had he stopped to think, he might have realized that the light-giving staff, sticking out of the ground like some kind of grave marker, would have to be held by Willow in order to work. That would of course mean that the fire starter, and likely the other two as well, would be right below it.

Sadly, Wolfgang was not a thinking man at the best of times. Particularly not after having tumbled down a steep incline with nothing but the gritty feel of soil to carry him through. So, instead of investigating the area near the staff, he dove at the nearest pile of runoff and began digging with gusto, believing that his companions were slowly being smothered beneath it.

"Hah! Puny dirt not stop me! Stay strong friends! You be free soon!"

Despite its design, his club actually made for a fairly good shovel. With his immense strength making up for its lack of a scoop, he was able to ram it into the mound and forcefully wrench out large chunks of the substance. For every 'shovel-full' he scooped up and tossed away, at least two more were disturbed and slid off to the side. It wasn't long before his efforts bore fruit in the form of a limp hand sticking out of the freshly covered ground.

"Wolfgang has you! Grab hand now!"

Without wasting a moment, the strongman grabbed a hold of the exposed limb. His mind unconsciously registered the texture of it as soon as his fingers wrapped around its wrist. It was thin, bony, and generally unpleasant to the touch.

Definitely Wilson then.

Much to his alarm, the scientist didn't respond to his grip. Instead of returning the gesture, his cold and scratchy fingers hung limp and lifeless. Wolfgang felt a surge of worry enter his system as the implications of his unresponsive companion settled in his mind. Wilson might have been knocked unconscious during the fall. He might be slowly fading away beneath the earth. How long did it take someone to suffocate?

He didn't pause to think about it.

"I save you science man!" He shouted, hoping against hope that his skinny friend could still hear him.

With a massive heave, the strongman threw his weight in the opposite direction in an attempt to pull Wilson free. His efforts further disturbed the pile of fallen dirt, causing a cascade of dust and soil, but the scientist remained firmly buried beneath. Not deterred, he grit his teeth and firmly planted his feet. Taking a moment to collect his strength, the strongman let out a grunt of effort and yanked as though his life depended on it.

It was working. He could feel the earth starting to lose its grip on his friend. Feeling his muscles strain under the exertion, he redoubled his efforts. There it was. Just a little bit mo-

A massive snap filled the air and suddenly all the resistance disappeared, sending the strongman sprawling on his back with a surprised shout. His landing set up a puff of dust while he blinked in confusion at the unexpected turn of events.

"Science man?" He ventured, sitting up and looking back to the pile. No luck. It seemed that Wilson hadn't been pulled free. Wolfgang was just about to get up to try again when he noticed the object that he was still holding onto.

It was the arm.

From the looks of things, he'd been _too _successful. He'd pulled so hard that he'd literally torn the limb from its owner.

For several long moments, the strongman's mind simply couldn't process that information. He looked down to the arm held in his hands. Up to the pile of dirt. Down to the arm. Up to the dirt. Down. Up. Down. Up.

"I…"

A crushing realization bore down on him, driving him to his knees as mournful tears stung his manly eyes.

"I…"

He barely even registered movement as Willow and Wendy freed themselves from the heap, spitting out the nasty material and uselessly trying to brush themselves off.

"Gah! That was awful!" The fire starter exclaimed. Her hair and clothes were so saturated with earth that she looked like some sort of zombie rising from the dead. Wendy didn't fare much better, looking closer to an awakening spirit merely due to her pale complexion and careful lack of expression.

Wolfgang didn't even look up at them.

Noticing the motionless strongman, Willow turned to face him with a wave.

"Hey! Wolfy! Are you still in one piece over there?" Though meant as a friendly checkup, her words stabbed into his gut like an icy dagger, driving a whimper from his bulky chest. "What's wrong? You look like you-"

"_I BROKE SCIENCE MAAAAAN!"_

His heartbroken wail drowned out the rest of her sentence as he broke down entirely. She was stopped dead in her tracks by the sudden onset of blubbering tears.

"_I TRY TO SAVE HIM!"_ Wolfgang cried, letting the entire world know of his grief. _"BUT HE _BRAKE_ INSTEAD! I WAS TOO HARD ON LITTLE SCIENCE MAN AND NOW HE BROKEN!"_

"Wait, who's broken?"

The unexpected voice caused his wails of regret to cut off instantly. Looking up in bewildered shock, Wolfgang's eyes darted to the figure that had just pulled itself free beside Willow and Wendy.

"Is something wrong…?" Wilson asked, patting his clothes off while raising an eyebrow. "You're looking at me kinda funny…"

Two arms. The scientist had two arms. Wolfgang knew for a fact that two was the normal amount for him, so that would mean he _hadn't _pulled off one of Wilson's limbs by accident. But… if that was the case… then what…

For the first time, the he looked down at the thing in his hands and actually examined it closely. Several things became immediately apparent upon doing so.

The arm had no skin on it. Or any meat for that matter. It was with a detached sort of interest that he noted the only thing keeping the fleshless limb together was stringy ligaments that had yet to fully rot away. No doubt his efforts to 'free' the trapped being had torn it from its main body. Something that was, more than likely, in just as bad a shape as it was.

Right then, it dawned on him that he was holding the arm of a skeleton.

With all the grace and self-control of a terrified infant, Wolfgang hurled the arm as far away from himself as he physically could while letting loose a horrified scream that echoed far into the solemn night air. Had they remained undetected by anything nearby after causing the landslide, they'd most certainly lost the element of surprise at this point.

Jittering from the ghastly contact he'd unknowingly endured, the strongman took several unconscious steps backwards. His movements caused a light crunching noise to emanate from beneath his feet which very nearly caused his heart to stop. Just as it was inevitable for the ocean to wear away at an overhanging cliff face, Wolfgang found himself entirely helpless to do anything but look down despite knowing full well how much he'd come to regret the action.

As it turned out, he came to regret it quite a lot.

The light given off by Willow's staff was far from bright, but it was enough to give a spine-chilling glimpse of the ground they'd tread upon after falling.

Bones.

Tens, dozens, scores, hundreds of bones. Some big. Some small. Some broken and some intact. All bleached white and strewn about in the final resting places of those unfortunates who'd once possessed them.

"Whoa…"

Wilson's eloquent remark voiced the thought that had been growing in all their minds. They'd known for a while now that they weren't the _first _people to find this place, but the sheer number of skeletons dotting the ground was far more than any had previously expected.

"Willow…?" Wendy asked lightly, her normally airy voice sounding like a gunshot in the silence of the atmosphere. "Could you make the light a bit brighter…?"

Too shell-shocked to do anything but obey, the fire starter's brow creased in concentration for a brief moment before the glow of her jeweled tool increased twofold. The ring of light that had surrounded the humans began to expand, spreading across more and more desiccated remains. The farther it went, the more skeletons were revealed, and the more densely they were packed together.

Wolfgang's mouth went dry as ice cold phantom fingers danced across his spine. So many. So very many. Each one had been a person at some point. Each one had been alive, but something had changed that. His senses screamed at him to turn away, to flee before it was too late, but a larger part of his mind, fueled by the same morbid desire that pushed people near the edge of a sheer drop, held him rooted to the spot.

Little by little, the source of the bodies was revealed.

A lake. The light given off by Willow's staff could only stretch so far, about six or seven yards from the banks. In all that distance, it became immediately clear that this body of liquid was far different from those used for recreational fishing.

To call it water wouldn't have been entirely accurate. The inky substance was more akin to melted shadows. It was still as the dead, not even a ripple of movement disturbing its smooth surface, but had the unmistakable texture of something that wasn't quite solid. At the same time, it was both pitch black and semi-transparent. A paradoxical description if ever there was one, but those bodies half submerged in the substance where it met the shore could still be seen just barely in its depths.

In direct opposition of all things logical and sane, a single rickety wooden bridge stood among the darkened liquid, stretching off into the unknown.

"Uh… Wilson…?" Willow didn't even have to finish the sentence. They could all hear the sound of the divining rod reacting more strongly that it had been before. Though the remains of numerous others were strewn about the path, it was almost certainly the one they were meant to take.

"Maybe there's another way around…?" The scientist ventured halfheartedly. It was clear that he didn't truly believe those words, but common sense demanded he voice them none the less. "I vote we look for some other path before risking the murder bridge."

"…Murder bridge…?" Wendy questioned.

"Yea. It's a bridge. Filled with murder. I thought that was kind of obvious given all the skeletons."

His explanation elicited a whimper from Wolfgang, who's eyes had yet to diminish from the saucer-sized gaze of total fear that had been present ever since he'd become aware of their surroundings.

"…That actually sounds interesting." The bereaved girl commented thoughtfully. "Maybe I should look into acquiring one."

"I'm agreeing with Wilson's idea!" Willow added quickly, seeking to change the subject from the morbid topic. "Anyone else disagree? No? Good. Let's get out of here!"

Though she offered no chance to dispute the strategy, neither Wolfgang nor Wendy made any move to question the choice. The idea of walking across the bridge surrounded by the deceased did little to hearten the group and, slim though the chance might be, finding another way across would be much better.

As the group rather hastily drew away from the grisly landmark, a sudden thought entered the strongman's mind. That alone wouldn't have been enough to give him pause despite popular belief, but the fact that it pertained to their current situation did.

In short, Wolfgang was starting to see a pattern.

He'd fallen here, dragging the others down with him and landing among the skeletons. It had been a pure accident, and yet it had somehow driven them closer to their goal. He might have been able to chalk it up to chance, but similar things had been happening ever since they'd started out.

Being taken to the camp of the pig king. Sheltering in the cave in the snow-coated world. Finding the path hidden in the twists and turns of the labyrinth. Running towards the spider nest in the swamp. Now this. All seemingly random occurrences which pushed them further along than they had any right to be. Things that might have taken months or years to find, instead took only days or weeks. Paths invisible to the naked eye were walked with unerring accuracy. By now it had gone far beyond simple luck. Things like that didn't simply happen by accident.

In another time, another man might have been struck speechless by such a revelation. He may have been reduced to a gibbering wreck as his mind struggled to understand what unseen force had been working him over. His paranoid eyes may have strained to their breaking point in an attempt to see the being that guided their footsteps.

Wolfgang was not such a man.

As quickly as the realization of the pattern had come, he shook it off and made to follow his friends once again. His mind didn't work on such complex levels. When he saw a problem, he struck it head on. When he saw a path, he took it, not giving any concern as to who had set him on it in the first place. It simply wasn't in his nature to look so deeply into such things.

Without giving the idea another thought, he hurried to put distance between himself and the unburied fallen behind him.


	29. Heart of darkness part 3

**I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who has been keeping up with this story despite all the delays. I greatly appreciate all the patience and support. Now, I present you with the conclusion to the trials of Adventure Mode. Stay tuned, as the final chapter of Long Live the King will be coming soon. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

* * *

><p>Eventually. Inevitably. The four weary survivors found themselves once again looking towards the glasslike surface of the liquid darkness. For the better part of two hours they'd looked for another way, only to be denied their salvation at every turn. The area they'd found themselves in a small alcove carved into the hillside. On every edge, the soil was far too loose and unsteady for them to even attempt climbing back up. The one and only way forwards, and the one that none of them wanted to take, was across the unsteady bridge and into the unknown.<p>

Wendy supposed that they could technically try swimming, but even she had to admit that idea sounded suicidal beyond belief. She didn't have to know what lurked beneath the surface of those chillingly smooth waters to know that it wasn't pleasant.

It was with great reluctance that the group slowly approached the wooden construct. As if they needed any further encouragement, the divining rod once again started acting up as they drew closer. None of them spoke. The only sound that could be heard was the crunching of the loose dirt underfoot and the decidedly unfitting droning of their mechanical guide.

Perhaps not the most dramatic approach to a clearly dangerous crossing, but at this point the young girl was far beyond worrying over trivialities like that. If she lived long enough to tell this story to others, she'd just have to take artistic license with it and work the dramatic parts.

"Hey guys?" Willow spoke up, drawing their attention. The fire starter wore a pained expression as she held one hand to the side of her head. "Would you mind lighting up one of those torches for a while? Keeping the light going is really starting to take it out of me."

With a quick nod, Wilson slung his pack off his shoulders and fished out one of the premade torches they'd thrown together before setting out. Back when they'd still been working on building a campsite with the help of the pigs in their first world, the art of torch-making had consisted of rolling together carefully measured bundles of tinder and sticks in order to let the flame burn steadily for a long period of time without scorching the person holding it. These ones were far less elegant. Little more than glorified clumps of plant matter, they likely wouldn't last even a third as long as the properly prepared tools they'd used to use. They would however, provide light, and that was what mattered at the moment.

With a grateful gesture, Willow touched the tip of her staff to the torch the scientist held out to her. There were several sputters and a small plume of smoke as the somewhat damp kindling made contact with the fiery gem, but soon enough it caught light and sprung to life in the form of a crackling flame.

A sigh of relief left the fire starter's mouth as she extinguished the light from her mystical weapon.

As soon as the illumination provided by the torch took over, the atmosphere of the small beachfront took a decidedly ominous turn. The skeletons and still waters, which had already been thoroughly unnerving, now looked nothing short of dreadful. Tiny shadows danced in between broken ribs and empty eye sockets. Crackling embers flickered across bleached bones partially buried underneath unshifting soil. The empty weight of the lake became a shifting miasma of total nothingness.

With a simple change in their source of light, things had gone from dark to downright evil looking.

Wendy was the first to step forwards. The action was as much for her benefit as it was to get the others moving. Though she was largely unmoved by normally terrifying sights, the sheer feeling of wrongness exuded by this place threatened to halt her steps if she let them. Right now, lack of action could prove just as dangerous as rushing forwards.

Wilson made a noise of protest as she took her first unsteady steps onto the bridge, but she only spared him a quick glance before continuing. He and the others seemed to have gotten the message. With Willow at the back, gently coaxing a very hesitant Wolfgang forwards, they were following her example and taking tentative steps onto the platform. The bridge was far too thin for them to walk side by side, so they were forced to move across in a line.

Wendy allowed them to catch up a bit more so that she was no longer standing on the edge of where the torch's light met the darkness. Once she could see where she was going, she ventured further away from the safety of the shore and into the unknown. Each step was slow and methodical, testing the rotting wood before putting her full weight onto it. Her eyes were cast down with total concentration as she scanned the way forwards for signs of damage or obstructions. She didn't want to know what would happen should she trip over something she missed.

It was rough at first. The oppressive weight of their surroundings kept the four on edge as surely as if they had a hundred jagged arrows being pointed at them. Every little bit of progress only served to lengthen their trip into the dark until they could no longer see the shore they'd originated from. Now their entire world consisted of the bridge, the water, and themselves all contained within a woefully small circle of light provided by their torch.

After they got into the rhythm of moving single file, it got slightly easier. One foot in front of the other. Sweep left to right with your eyes and back left again. Don't worry about where you're going or where you've been. Just focus on the next few steps. Once those have been taken, look onto the next.

Where it not for the constant ambient noise made by their torch, and the slightly less ambient noise of the divining rod, they'd have been progressing in total silence. Something about the place simply killed any form of conversation before it started.

It wasn't until Wilson called for a momentary halt that Wendy realized how much progress they'd made.

"Hold on a second." He warned, his voice coming as a startling disruption to the formerly steady quiet. "This torch is almost burned out. I'm going to light a new one, so don't get too far away."

For Wendy, it was as though she'd woken from a sudden haze. She hadn't been paying the slightest attention to how long they'd been walking for, so the sudden frame of reference gave her pause. If her assumptions about the longevity of their torches were right, that would mean it'd been around half an hour since that first one had been ignited. Half an hour of moving across the bleak lifeless waters with no sign of the other side.

Not a very heartening sign it had to be said.

As the scientist handed the mostly depleted torch over to Wolfgang and fished out a new one, Wendy turned her attention to the waters on her left. Smooth as glass, black as oil, the inky substance drew her forwards until she was standing at the edge of the wooden platform. Peering into its inscrutable depths, she could just barely make out her reflection across the surface.

As she looked, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. Not by someone or something hiding in the dark, but rather by the shadows themselves. This place was smothered in dark energies. She could feel them flitting and floating at the edges of her consciousness, brushing against her whenever she brought herself into focus. Nowhere was this feeling stronger than in the placid lake surrounding them. The murky substance was filled to the brim with it.

For a single fleeting moment, Wendy was struck with the forceful desire to tip forwards. To leap from her perch and dive into the liquid darkness. Though she was no longer the hollow girl she used to be, morbidly apathetic to her own survival, the desire to fall into those endless waters was almost irresistible.

With a shiver that had nothing to do with the temperature of the air, she firmly latched one hand onto one of the support poles jutting out from the bridge. Though it had no handrails to speak of, there were pillars of wood holding it up at semi-regular intervals. Once her position was secured, she turned to look down once again.

"Got it!" Wilson called, momentarily distracting her from her observations. "Wolfgang, tip that old torch this way so I can light the new one off of it. Yeah, like that."

As the used up bundle of tinder met the fresh one, a new wave of light burst into existence and drove back the encroaching night. The sudden increase in lighting momentarily blinded the blonde girl, having been used to the slowly fading light of their old one, causing her to close her eyes reflexively. She was careful to avoid accidentally stepping backwards. To do so on such precarious footing would more than likely end in disaster.

"Oh, sorry Wendy. I should have given some more warning." Wilson apologized, seeing her reaction. "Hope I didn't get you too bad."

The girl murmured a half-verbalized assurance, still feeling the silencing effects of the atmosphere around them. Blinking several times to clear her blurry vision, she rubbed her eyes absentmindedly and turned back to take a quick glance at the spot she'd been watching a moment ago. The gesture was more automatic than conscious. She didn't really expect to see anything.

Which made it all the more shocking when she discovered a sight she'd missed previously.

The newborn light was far stronger than the dying embers had been, and managed to reach into the dense liquid farther. Its illumination revealed something that turned her blood to ice.

Rotted fingers reaching up towards a salvation they would never find, mouth forever open in a silent scream, empty eyes looking towards the surface they'd never see again, a skeleton hung submerged beneath her.

The torch only reached down to the unfortunate individual's midsection, so she was unable to see what held them under. For several long seconds, she was unable to do anything other than stare in total silence. Breathless moments ticked by as her eyes remained glued to the scene. It felt like an eternity, but it couldn't have been more than half a minute before something terrible broke the standoff.

The skull turned to look at her.

It was a smooth, slow gesture. Calm and collected as any living person would have made. One instant, the empty sockets that had held its eyes were gazing skywards, the next they turned to meet her own. It was in that moment Wendy knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that their lives would end if they stayed here even an instant longer.

"Run."

The word had left her mouth before she even had time to process it. The others paused in confusion, her neutral tone conflicting with the dire nature of her order.

"I said _RUN!"_

That got their attention, causing the other three to jump. The amount of concern in her voice was enough make them realize that their young companion had spotted something sinister. Before any of them could question or follow her command, a light scratching noise emanated from behind them, drawing their eyes.

Even as Wendy's stomach dropped into a cold void beneath her, she spotted something out of her worst nightmares. Slowly snaking out of the water, a single skeletal hand was reaching up to grab the edge of the bridge. Its fleshless fingers dug into the soft wood, causing the very noise that had drawn their attention.

It wasn't long before it found purchase.

Grabbing a hold of the platform, the old bones began hoisting themselves upwards. Sludgy water ran down its form in rivulets, ever so slowly releasing its grip on the emerging form. A pale white crown broke the surface and was soon followed by a cracked brow. All too soon, the murky liquid gave way to a bleached skull, miniature waterfalls cascading down from between its broken teeth.

"_RUN NOW!_"

No one stopped to argue with Wendy's frantic command this time. The group tore their eyes from the macabre sight and began fleeing in the only other direction available to them. The wavering torchlight sputtered and spat as it was shaken about in their dash, its dancing rays punctuating each creak made by the bridge underfoot.

Wendy could hardly hear any of it. Her pounding heartbeat roared in her ears, blocking out such unimportant background noise. On some instinctive level she knew exactly what was coming next, and she wanted to be very far away from here when it did.

A desperate wail from Wolfgang confirmed the dread that had taken a hold of her was well founded.

All around them on either side of the bridge, skeletal limbs broke the surface and drew closer to the fleeing survivors. Countless deceased rose from the depths and steadily made for the one spot of dry land. Some were rotting and fetid, bloated skin and muscles ripping under their movements. Others were wasted away entirely, nothing more than empty bones defying reason as they moved without tendons or connections to guide them.

All moved towards them in unison.

The submerged hoard of the unliving masses was nothing like Wendy had imagined such a gathering would be. In every story she'd heard, the risen were supposed to be slow and uncoordinated, moving at a clumsy pace while moaning and groaning as they went. These creatures were the exact opposite.

They moved in total silence, gliding through the water with all the grace of sea serpents. They acted as one, pursuing their prey in total unison. Not a single skeleton bumped into any of its companions. Every movement was totally focused towards the goal of catching their fleeing targets.

The young girl didn't need to be an expert on the undead to know that facing this many would end very badly for them. It didn't look like they would have a choice however. Though the divining rod was now blaring out its call with the intensity of a foghorn, there was no end to the bridge in sight. The drowned corpses would be upon them long before they reached their goal.

As she ran, her feet pounding against the wooden planks, her breath coming out in labored gasps, she flipped open her book of spells. Even in the sinister half-light provided by the torch that Wilson held, the letters on the pages burned with a luminescence all their own. They shone in the darkness and all but leapt to the forefront of her mind. Even after having spent so much time reading through the scrawled penmanship, she still could only comprehend a small fraction of what was actually written. Fortunately, that small fraction included several spells which would prove very useful in a situation just such as this.

Breathlessly, Wendy began to read from the book, words pouring from her mouth even as the undead began dragging their forms from the waters below. She felt the buildup of occult energy in her mind. The pressure in her head continued to rise until it felt as though her skull were going to split open. Just as the psychic turmoil reached a fever pitch, she spoke the final words of the incantation and let it loose upon the world.

Night turned to day as brilliant flashes of lightning streaked across the sky. In a dazzling array of light and sound, dozens of bolts rained down into the waiting lake as though thrown from the hands of Zeus himself. The raging electricity exploded into the waters, flash evaporating all they touched and sending cascades of stormy currents racing across the surface. Any man who was in the water would have been killed instantly by the terrible forces at play. Even if by some miracle they managed to survive the electrical deluge, the sheer voltage ravaging their bodies would have crippled them with waves of the purest agony and total loss of muscle control. It was a hellish killing field from which nothing could hope to escape.

The dead didn't seem to notice.

Even as the heavens threw down devastation into their midst, the approaching hoards neither slowed nor stopped their advance. Their bodies shrugged off the electrical storm as easily as an elephant would a swarm of gnats. Other than the few that were outright vaporized by direct hits from the lightning, they showed no indication that their efforts were hindered in the slightest.

It was only with an inhuman amount of self-control that Wendy kept herself from slipping into panic when she saw how little her fist attack accomplished. Her eyes darted down to the book of spells once more, but before she could begin another incantation, a warning shout from Wilson broke her concentration.

"Up ahead! Look out!"

Her gaze shot upwards, instantly spotting the cause of his concern. By now, the nearest of the undead had managed to clamber their way onto the bridge. Some of them, in a disturbing display of foresight, and actually moved to the further sections and set themselves up to cut off the fleeing group even as the bulk of the unburied hoard gained ground behind them.

Wendy's pace slowed and she felt Wilson race past her. The scientist nimbly stepped across the very edge of the platform in order to slip by, narrowly avoiding toppling into the now roiling waters with his precarious maneuver. A surge of alarm raced through Wendy's mind as soon as she saw the knife in his hand.

It was painfully obvious what he intended to do. He planned to clear the path ahead by using the sword stored within the gem in his blade. Its shadowy edge had made short work of all opposition up to this point, and he was about to use it once more.

Wendy couldn't pretend to know what presence inhabited his weapon. She only knew that it was dark, old, and far more cunning than it had any right to be. She didn't know its name, what it was, or what it wanted with them. She did know one thing about it however.

She knew with undeniable, absolute certainty, that if Wilson called on it now they were all going to die.

There was no sudden epiphany. No blaze of realization that sparked the knowledge. She couldn't have said _how_ she knew, only that she did. It was an instinct that surged into her awareness just as the instinct of being watched would prick the minds of a paranoid victim.

There was no time to shout a warning to him. No time to make him see reason. The only thing she could hope to do was remove the thing that was pushing him to unleash his weapon.

Wendy's thoughts sped up one thousand fold in that instant. Even though they moved too fast for her to consciously be aware of each one, they fulfilled their purposes. She gauged an estimate on the depths of the waters surrounding them and found it to be far too deep to make use of the tentacle spell. The lighting storm had already proven to be less than helpful, and trying to force it to target those risen corpses standing on the bridge would likely do more harm than good. There were no singular spells she knew that could accomplish this task.

So she'd just have to make her own.

Without any direct awareness of what she was doing, Wendy began reciting the words for one of the less useful spells she'd learned. This one had been designed to attract birds, but had proven far too one dimensional for her to benefit from. She'd tried using it to trap food, but none of the birds had been trusting or complacent enough for her to get close. She'd tried using it to gather supplies, but the birds didn't respond to her commands. All it really did was lure them to one spot.

Or at least, that's how it was supposed to work.

Unbeknownst to the young girl, she was taking a dangerous step in her self-taught education of magical manipulation. With the mental fortitude of one many years her senior, and no small amount of luck, she opened herself up to the magic and allowed it to flow through her rather than around her. As the words blazed across her mind, they began to twist and sharpen, becoming something far more sinister than they had originally been. The spell warped in on itself as it drank in the essence of her dark nature.

As the magic stormed from her body, Wendy became suddenly aware that this was far different form her earlier incantations. She felt it pulling and ripping at her insides, rending her form wherever it touched. She opened her mouth to scream, but the only noise she could make was a strangled gasp as it poured from her. Something deep inside her being, something precious and irreplaceable, was torn away as the new spell took shape and ushered its birth into the world with a maelstrom of razor wind.

Wilson was toppled to the ground before he could activate his knife as a rush of feathered bodies descended upon the bridge. His shocked cry was drowned out in a cacophonous storm of caws and wing beats. The night came alive and fell upon the undead as the whirlwind of midnight black figures attacked. Ravens the size of dogs appeared from nowhere, tearing into those creatures barring the path forwards with vicious abandon. Beaks and talons, sharp as steel, splintered bone and shredded rotten flesh with every strike.

The undead were far from beaten. Their fleshless bodies, free from fear and hesitation, lashed out at the unnatural flock with merciless precision. Skeletal hands tore birds from the sky and dashed them against the wooden supports, or crushed their frail bones in an iron grip. For every risen corpse that was torn apart, another three were quick to rise from the watery depths to take their place. It was painfully apparent that even this newly crafted spell was only serving to buy time.

Wendy however, was far from finished.

Reeling from the effects of her exertions, mind fogged over entirely and body hardly standing, she gave the final two words that she knew would tip the balance. The words ground against her throat, but she forced them into existence just as she'd forced her spell craft.

"Wolfgang! Charge!"

* * *

><p>The strongman had been petrified in blind horror. All around him, terrifying creatures straight from the darkest depths of the nightmare world had come to haunt him. His mind had frozen when the corpses began their pursuit. His very soul had quaked when the skeletons had utterly ignored the storm of lightning. His body had all but shut down in total panic when they had moved to block the group in.<p>

It was too much for him. Too much to take in. Too much to endure. The sheer amount of fear he felt from just looking upon the encroaching monsters stole every scrap of his impressive strength away from him. He couldn't do this! He couldn't do this! He just couldn't-

"Wolfgang!"

-do this! There was nothing he could hope to accomplish against such a terrifying opponent. He had to run but there was nowhere to go. He had to hide but there was no place to take shelter. He had to-

"Charge!"

Through the miasma of panic that had taken a hold of him, the strongman registered those words. Equal parts commanding and pleading, spoken in a last desperate attempt to save them. Wendy's voice rung out loud enough to be heard over the din of combat, filled with the pained tones of one who was grasping to a single lifeline in a storm of chaos.

It was that hint of finality, that unspoken plea, which pierced through the shroud that had descended on Wolfgang. His friends were in danger. Those creatures were trying to hurt them. In that moment, an invisible line had been crossed. One that had spelled the doom of countless people over the centuries.

As any great tyrant could tell you, it is far better to be feared than loved. A sovereign who is feared inspires absolute obedience both from those who approve of them and those who do not. They are not expected to be fair or just, merely to be obeyed. That fear alone is enough to end rebellions before they begin and keep even the most anarchical individuals subdued.

However, those same tyrants would tell you that maintaining that fear is a very delicate balance. Because fear can easily be turned to anger, and no amount of power can protect you from that. Throughout history, anger has spelled the end for any who was foolish or unfortunate enough to rouse it. It toppled the mightiest of kings, crushed the strongest of armies, and ground the most glorious of empires into dust.

Though it came in many forms, there was no anger more potent than that which sprung from the desire to protect. The desire to _save_. The righteous anger that came from one whose home, friends, and family were threatened. That was the anger that drove mortal men to strike down devils and god.

That was exactly the sensation that exploded in Wolfgang's chest as Wendy's words reached his ears.

The fear did not vanish. Nor did it diminish. Instead, it was drowned out by the lion's roar of his desire to protect those he cared about. It took a hold of every muscle and drove him into the fray. He would not falter. He would not fail.

With a wordless cry against the endless darkness that surrounded them, Wolfgang raised his club and charged forwards.

He charged past Willow, the fire starter, who was struggling to concentrate enough to make use of her staff, jumping in shock as the wall of muscle blazed across her field of vision.

He charged past Wendy, the young girl slumping in place as the last of her energy left her.

He charged over Wilson, the scientist dropping once more to the ground from his half-righted position to avoid being trampled underfoot.

He charged towards the teeming mass of feathers and bones. Towards the very thing that made his heart quake in dread. Seeming to sense his intentions, the ravens directly in his path abandoned their conflicts and fled to the air. The skeletons they had been assaulting had only a split second to register the sudden change.

Then Wolfgang was among them.

The first of the walking bones was dispatched before it had any hope of stopping him. His massive club smashed into its ribcage in the exact moment that its avian opposition vanished. Despite the horrendous weight behind the blow, the undead creature didn't explode into a cloud of bone shards as he'd expected. The dark forces holding it together were too strong for that. It did however, fly as though it had been strapped to a rocket. The risen corpse hurtled into the wall of shadows outside their little island of light, disappearing with only the splash of its body hitting the water to assure them that it even still existed.

Wolfgang paid it no heed. Even as it was thrown aside, he was already moving to the next.

The second was somewhat more prepared for him. It had a split second to register the disappearance of its companion and realized that a new threat had emerged. As the strongman raised his club for a downwards swing, the skeleton raised its own arms to block his attack.

Apparently nobody had told Wolfgang he was supposed to be blocked.

His weapon smashed into the rotted limbs, snapping them inwards with revolting crack. The weighty tool crashed down on the creature's skull, having lost only a small part of its momentum in passing through its arms. The weathered crown of bone collapsed like an eggshell under the attack. Though the blow was not enough to destroy the creature, the planks beneath its feet were not so fortunate. The old wood splintered as soon as the massive kinetic force plowed into it, crashing into the lake and taking its undead occupant with it.

Wolfgang leapt over the newly made hole without a moment's hesitation.

As he weighed into the monsters, his companions took the opportunity to form up and follow behind his rampage. Wilson was forced to carry Wendy, who could no longer stand. Willow lit up the area in a sudden burst of light as she forced her staff to activate. The torch they'd been using was all but lost, and to pause now in order to light another would be a fatal mistake. Though her face was contorted in discomfort, she kept the gem-tipped rod blazing without complaint.

The birds adapted as well. It was impossible to know if they were being directed by their diminutive mistress, or if they were simply intelligent enough to modify their strategy, but they acted with a keen insight as the strongman fought against the undead hoards. Two groups formed from the main flock. One split off to harry and slow the encroaching undead that were coming in from behind, while the other harassed those that stood in front of them, keeping them from gathering in enough numbers to overwhelm the strongman with sheer numbers.

As more and more of the bone walkers either fell apart under the barrage of claws, or were hurled aside by the whirling hammer, they began to increase the aggression in their attack. The formerly methodical approach was disposed of in favor of total offensive maneuvering. The noose that had been forming to trap them became a spear as the hoard of unliving monsters converged on them all at once.

Wolfgang felt skeletal fingers slashing against his arms and body. He felt cracked teeth trying to sink into his legs whenever he drew too close to the sides. He felt undead hands trying to close around his ankles and trip him. He felt it all, but he fought on regardless.

With each swing, another of the horrors were sent flying. Though his blows rained thick and heavy, a dishearteningly small number of them actually stayed down. The majority simply began swimming back towards the group once they hit the water to rejoin the assault. Still, it bought them time, and time was one of the most important things they could get at this point. The divining rod was screaming in their ears from its position in Willow's hand, telling them that salvation was not far.

As another unburied creature was hurtled into the depths, a glimpse of deliverance was his reward.

A stone monolith rose from the lake at the end of the bridge they walked. Jagged obsidian edges dotted every inch of its surface, giving the formation a cruel and sinister appearance. The tower hardly even registered in Wolfgang's mind. What was infinitely more important was the object that stood tall and imposing on top of it.

Maxwell's doorway.

The final doorway.

"There it is! Just a little further!" Wilson's shout could hardly be heard over the noise of the conflict, but it was enough to rally the group for another final push. "We're going to have to climb!"

The strongman's weapon smashed aside one final skeleton, clearing the path in front of them. For the moment, no more of the creatures stood between them and the end. Before more could rise to bar their way, the survivors put on a burst of speed.

Even as they drew near to the end, their hunters redoubled the attack. All semblance of order and strategy was abandoned as the mass of undead threw themselves forwards as quickly as they could. The remaining ravens fought against the hoard to the best of their ability, but they were rapidly falling under sheer weight of numbers.

It was with a terrifying clarity that Wolfgang realized they were running out of time.

While the strongman might be able to scale the wall, Wilson wouldn't be able to climb nearly fast enough while carrying the near-catatonic Wendy in his arms. Willow would also be heavily hampered by the two staffs she held. Though she'd already demonstrated her ability to scale something while using them, it would slow her down far more than was acceptable.

They wouldn't be able to make it. Not with how quickly the undead were closing in. Not unless he did something.

Wolfgang ground to a halt, dropping his hammer to the floor. He'd need both hands free for this. His companions didn't notice his sudden stop until they were right beside him, and by that point they were far too late to prevent what was about to happen.

His left hand grabbed a hold of Willow's shoulder while his right clamped down on Wilson's arm. The two of them hardly had time to shout in surprise before the strongman did the only thing he could think to do in order to save them.

Bringing every ounce of his strength to bear, he threw them.

The weight of two grown people alone was a considerable challenge for one person to shift. The weight of two grown people, one small child, and a considerable assortment of trinkets and weaponry would have been nigh on impossible for a normal person.

Wolfgang was far from normal.

As he heaved with the force of total determination, he could actually feel the muscles in his arms tear under the strain of the effort. Cries of confusion turned to screams of fear as his friends became airborne.

Wolfgang didn't stop to watch their flight. He was an expert on throwing heavy objects, having been renowned for it and all other physical feats during his time in the circus, so he knew that their trajectory would land them safely, if uncomfortably, at the top of the twenty foot tall spire. As soon as they left his hands, he spun on his heel to retrieve his fallen weapon.

He was far too late.

Halfway through the turn, Wolfgang experienced what it was to be struck by a train. Though not made of metal, this wall of bone was more than enough to slam the air from his lungs and send him careening off the bridge and into the abyssal waters.

As soon as he hit the surface, he began to sink. The strongman felt a surge of fright as the liquid dragged him under. He struggled against the darkened substance, fighting to swim upwards and reach the surface, but every passing moment drew him further and further from the light he could just barely see being given off by Willow's staff. The lake was pulling him down even as he felt fleshless hands grip his body.

Under water, he twisted and turned against the clinging monstrosities. His lungs burned as he attempted to wrench himself free. His muscles flared in anguish from the weight of his exertions. He fought with everything he had left, but it was simply too much to take. In the span of a second, the last glimpse of light from above vanished into an impermeable wall of black as he was pulled into the very heart of the lake.

It was over. He couldn't fight any more. He couldn't keep this up. In a way, it almost seemed like something inevitable. He'd cheated death once in this journey already. Perhaps this was simply the reaper finally catching up with him again. At the very least, he hoped beyond all else that his sacrifice had not been in vain. He prayed that the others would make it out.

As his body sank and every cell in his body screamed for air, Wolfgang cast one last look towards the surface. He hoped to get at least a brief glimpse of light as he slipped away. One final look at illumination before he was swallowed by darkness.

He got the exact opposite.

Defying reality. Ignoring possibility. Spitting all over the very laws of nature, a streak of shadow so black it actually stood out against the total darkness of the lake shot towards him. Wolfgang feared at first that this was some new trick of the lightless world, but that fear turned to awe as he saw the shadow split apart into five sections that resembled fingers.

The hand of Maxwell's door grabbed a hold of the strongman's body and pulled with a strength that dwarfed even his own. The lake seemed to shudder as it felt the intrusion, doing everything it could to keep a hold of him, but it was unable to keep its prize. The limb ripped him free from the grip of his skeletal captors and began dragging him in the opposite direction.

Wolfgang could have laughed and cried in equal measure as he flew at breakneck pace through the water. He would have done both as he broke the surface had he not been gasping air for all he was worth. The snaking arm pulled him through the night air and towards the gaping maw of the open doorway.

For once, the strongman welcomed the mind-numbing sensation of falling into it.


	30. End of an era

**Without further ado, I present you with the final chapter of Long Live the King**

**Disclaimer: On the off chance that someone skipped right to the end and never saw any of my previous statements, I don't own Don't Starve or any of the characters**

* * *

><p>An eternity ago, a deal had been struck. A deal between a man craving knowledge above all else, and a shadowy figure who could promise him his greatest desire. Lured in by the siren's call, the man plunged headfirst into the path he believed would see that dream realized.<p>

It was a story as old as humanity. One of the simple overwhelming need to know that which nobody else can possibly know. For as long as there had been people staring up at the sky in wonder, there had always been those willing to do whatever it took to unravel the mysteries of those awe-inspiring celestial bodies.

It was a story, but more than that, it was Wilson Percival Higgsbury's reality.

There was no slow rise into consciousness this time. No waking from a dreamless slumber brought on as his mind collapsed inside of the nightmarish rollercoaster that was Maxwell's doorway. Indeed, the ride this time was so short and sudden that he didn't even have time to lose himself in the turbulent eddies of whatever plane of existence the portal flung him through. One minute he was being pulled in, and the next he was forcibly spat out like a piece of rotten cuisine.

In his tumble, the scientist hit the ground hard. The brutally solid floor beneath him did nothing to soften the blow. Unlike the dirt or grass he'd been expecting, the first taste of this world that he received was cold, unforgiving, marble tiles.

Momentarily dazed by the impact, Wilson shut his eyes and struggled to fight against the splitting headache that was now centered where the back of his skull had met the floor. With a groan of discomfort, he reached one hand up to tenderly probe the area and look for any signs of serious damage.

The gesture sent a sharp tinge of pain through his head, but came away dry. No blood. That was a good sign, but no guarantee of safety. Blunt force trauma didn't have to break the skin to give him a concussion.

Pushing away the cheerful thought of possible internal hemorrhaging, the scientist opened his eyes to look up at a vision that was all too familiar.

Total darkness.

With a start, Wilson sat bolt upright, moving too quickly and causing his head to spin. He shook off the unwanted daze to the best of his abilities, looking around in a panic. They couldn't still be in that world. They'd gone through the door. They _couldn't_ still be in that nightmarish land of darkness and living death.

As his heart rate started to slow, he realized that, though very similar, this was not the same world he'd just left behind. Four large pillars topped with fires that didn't seem to require any visible fuel burned around him in a square, illuminating the small area he was laying on. Faded chessboard tiles adorned the floor, hard and slightly rough to the touch. Though he couldn't see for more than a couple of yards past the blanket of light, he got the distinct impression that he was inside a building rather than outside in the wilderness. It had been so long since he'd actually inhabited one that the lack of ambient noise and moving air was slightly disconcerting.

More than that though, he knew this world had to be different _because_ of the shadows that surrounded him. The earlier world had been oppressive and hungry. Darkness looming over his frail form in an attempt to break in and smother him. This one was different. Not benign by any stretch of the imagination, but less… aggressive. It was distant. Expectant. Observant. Instead of feeling like it meant to do him harm, it almost felt as though it was watching him with the rapt attention of a diligent scientist observing a subject.

Something was off. Wilson knew that immediately. It wasn't just the change in atmosphere or the total stillness of the world around him. Something important was missing. It took him several moments to figure out exactly what it was, and when he did he could hardly believe he hadn't seen it sooner.

He was alone.

Jumping to his feet and whipping around in place, the gentleman scientist cast his gaze into every dark corner, growing increasingly desperate as the knowledge of his isolation became more and more apparent.

"Wendy?" He called, hoping against hope that the others were nearby, but simply out of his range of view. "Wolfgang!? WILLOW!?"

With each name, his voice continued to rise. He repeated those three words several times until his throat was hoarse from shouting. Silence was his only answer. Not even an echo responded. It was as though his voice had crumbled away to dust the moment it had left the confines of his lit stage.

Swallowing the urge to lose himself in fear, Wilson did what he always did when faced with a new problem. He approached it scientifically.

The last he'd seen of them, they were being pulled into Maxwell's doorway at the end of the last world. Though Wolfgang had seemingly sacrificed himself to save them, Wilson had seen the flash of darkness that had shot out from the doorway and plunged into the lake below. He had to imagine that its goal was to drag the strongman to safety.

They'd all been pulled in. If Wendy's previous remarks about rules and regulation had been correct, that meant they would all have progressed to the fifth world together. Logically speaking, that meant that, for whatever reason, their group had been split up before being deposited. All he had to do was find them again.

Wilson didn't allow himself to think about the fact that his assumption was entirely based on Maxwell being bound to certain restrictions. He couldn't afford to let himself worry about the 'what-ifs'. The moment he started thinking about those, his goal would become infinitely more difficult.

Shutting his resolve in place with mechanical precision, the scientist turned to take better stock of his surroundings.

Darkness on all sides. Four beacons of light around him. They didn't seem to be natural fires, so he couldn't be certain how long they'd burn for. Their flickering flames were far quieter than they should have been, being so subtle that he'd have been hard pressed to hear them had the rest of this place not been entirely silent.

The floor beneath him was bordered off in a sort of path, edging the designed tiles with duller, less impressive ones. He could only imagine that it was the way he was meant to go, but he had no torches left on his person. At some point during the mad dash away from the undead, one of the risen corpses had torn his backpack away and taken all of his supplies with it.

A challenging obstacle, but not an insurmountable one. A quick pat at his side assured him that his knife was still in place. That came as both a reassurance and a concern. In the worst case scenario, he could don the shadow armor and try to brave the darkness while under its protection, but that would have to be an absolute last resort. Something about this world left him feeling like drawing on those powers now would be a very bad idea.

That left him with few other options. Taking a step forwards in an attempt to get a closer look at the pillars, Wilson nearly tripped as his foot bumped into something lying on the floor. He stumbled, only just managing to avoid tipping over, before casting his gaze towards the ground to see what the offending object had been. Hopefully something he could use.

It came as no small surprise when he laid eyes on something that was very familiar. Still and silent, the divining rod was placed in the center of the floor, looking for all the world like it had been waiting there for him.

Part of him wondered just how the device had escaped his notice, but a much larger part already knew. He'd grown so accustomed to the constant noise given off by the object that its current soundlessness tricked his subconscious into believing that it simply wasn't there. For a long while, Wilson simply stood there, looking down at the odd radio with no singular thought in his mind. Seeing it like this just looked so… out of place.

Very slowly, he drew back to his present predicament. The divining rod couldn't light up the dark, nor could it lead him down the right path if it had fallen silent. It had served its purpose, so taking it with him would do nothing but weigh him down. He knew that. He knew it with absolute certainty. It was the logical conclusion to draw. And yet, even with that undeniable truth, he still picked it up regardless.

"Just what are you anyway?" Wilson pondered aloud, eyes drifting over the wooden construct. Predictably enough, he received no answer.

Sighing in resignation at his own sentimentality, he shouldered the product of his addled mind and turned back to focus on the matter at hand. The darkness remained as solid and passive as ever, standing tall and motionless beyond the small wall of light. The scientist took another step forwards to get closer-

-and very nearly jumped out of his skin when two more flame holding pillars sprung to life. With a startled cry, he tripped backwards, landing heavily on his rear and scrambling away from the unexpected objects. No sooner had he done so than the flames sputtered out and plunged the area they'd been illuminating back into the shadows.

Taking a moment to recover his senses, Wilson blinked back the shock and realized what had just happened. There were more marble structures in the darkness to light his path. He'd just freaked out over something that was supposed to help him. Despite fearing for the safety of his companions, the scientist was grudgingly grateful that nobody else had been around to see his blunder.

Rising to his feet once more, he paused to dust off his clothing before turning back to the direction he was meant to follow. Edging forwards, he was once again greeted by two new flames blazing up and driving back the shadows before him.

_Right._ He thought. _This isn't meant to be another challenge world. This is the end. This is where we confront Maxwell._

Even so, he still kept one hand on his knife in case the torches suddenly disappeared and left him standing alone in the dark. One couldn't be too careful when dealing with the two-faced creations of their sinister host.

With some measure of confidence restored, Wilson set off into the unknown. Pairs of newly lit pillars would appear in front of him at regular intervals even as the ones behind him faded. Their softly crackling embers were the only sounds that could be heard in the vast expanse around him besides the tapping of his shoes against the tiles. It was a strange sound to the man who'd grown used to striding through grass and dirt for so long.

Every so often, the main path would have two smaller trails diverging from it in opposite directions. He'd tried examining them in the hopes he could find out what they were meant to lead to, but the torches remained fixed on the path he'd been walking and no new ones came into existence for the alternative routes. Not wanting to test his luck in the dark, he opted to continue on his way.

As he walked, the scientist became increasingly aware that this could be a trap of some kind. Perhaps it was meant as some final test to lure him into a false sense of security. Such a devious turn of events could spell disaster, but at the same time he couldn't do much besides walk right into it. If he tried to stay in one place and wait, he'd likely end up starving to death long before anything beneficial happened. There were no supplies around here, and the only breaks in the chessboard tiles were occasional patches of dirt with dead bushes and sticks poking out of them.

Despite himself, Wilson actually found that he was growing board as he progressed. One could only keep up a sense of mortal terror for so long before it began to lose its potency. After that, it would take more and more to get a rise out of them. Though suitably ominous with its shroud of shadows, this world was hardly the most sinister of the ones he'd gone through, and he was having a hard time staying tense. It was actually rather tame when compared to the harsher ones like the world of winter or the one he'd just left.

With a shake of his head, he dismissed those distracting comparisons from his mind. Now wasn't the time to be worried about such things. All he had to focus on at the moment was putting an end to this madness once and for all

Try as he might, he was only partially successful in remaining alert. With so little to look at and so few noises to keep him centered in the present, his mind would inevitably start to wander without him knowing it. Each time, he would force himself to leave any stray thoughts behind. Each time, he would soon slip back into the same unwanted haze.

It was due to this constant difficulty that he didn't notice the change at first. When the light touch of sound reached his ears, he dismissed it as another creation of his wandering mind. Try as he might though, this one refused to leave.

It took a whole five minutes before he finally realized that the sound wasn't coming from inside his head. Grinding to an immediate halt, his head perked up as he recognized something he hadn't heard in the longest time.

Music.

It was distant and difficult to make out, but it was unmistakably music. It was something that none of Maxwell's previous worlds had contained. In all his time spent foraging and surviving in the wilderness, he'd never realized just how much he'd grown to miss the sound of music.

With something tangible to latch onto, Wilson quickened his pace considerably. Music was the sound of human development. Civilization. Community. It didn't simply appear in nature. Someone had to compose the notes and shape the instruments necessary to play them. Hearing it meant that he was very near to other people.

Very near to getting home.

Now practically running, he could hardly keep his excitement in check. This could still be a trap, but his mind refused to slow down long enough to worry about that. His goal was simply to find the source of the music.

The closer he came, the more this anticipation grew, but a sense of warning came with it. Something wasn't right. With each step, it became increasingly clear that the source of the disturbance was in fact the music itself.

Having previously been too far away to make it out, Wilson had only been aware that the drifting sounds had been music of some kind. Now close enough to hear it more clearly, he could tell just how strange it really was.

Slightly off key, and corny in the extreme, his ears were assaulted by the sound of a composition just good enough to be called a song while still being highly irritating. It had the warm crackling feeling that only came from playing out of a gramophone, but far from adding to the music, its weighty notes only served to make it all the more annoying to listen to.

It was so unfitting for the palace of darkness at the center of Maxwell's domain that all of Wilson's paranoia came rushing back to him. Either the cruel man had entirely lost his mind, or something was very, _very_, wrong.

His trepidation waxed as he made his way forwards. Each step brought the source of that cheesy music just a little bit closer, and he had the distinct feeling he wasn't going to like what he found.

Without warning, a dozen different flames sprung into existence, momentarily blinding the scientist. The music was very near, and as he recovered from the unexpected brightness, he saw that it wasn't the only thing.

The tiled pathway extended outwards into a sort of chessboard stage. Dominating the center of this area was a large stone statue of Maxwell himself. Contrary to what Wilson might have expected, the man was depicted in a rather dramatic sweeping gesture that angled up towards the invisible sky.

Flanked on all sides, the statue was surrounded by four large chess pieces. Pawns. Each adorned with a different symbol at the top. A flame. A weight. A gravestone. And finally, a beaker. They all stood at equal distances away from the statue. Had it been a piece as well, it would have been impossible for it to safely move to a position where it could escape capture. It was-

"Checkmate."

Wilson exploded into movement at the sound of the voice. Whipping the knife from his belt without a moment's hesitation, he dashed past the strange assortment of sculptures to face the one person who could possess that voice. The very same person he desperately wanted to settle the score with.

"Maxwell!" He shouted, rushing forwards. "It's over! You've… lost…"

His determined statement drifted off as he witnessed the true face of his host. He'd been ready for some terrifying confrontation. A conflict of epic proportions in which he did battle with whatever last ditched plot the madman could come up with. He thought he'd been ready for anything.

He'd been wrong.

A dry, humorless chuckle shook Maxwell's gaunt frame at Wilson's words as a wry grin spread across his face.

"That it is." He drawled, his voice sounding like sandpaper running across a patch of rocky gravel. "Looks like you've got me beat after all. You'll have to forgive me for not standing up to congratulate you."

Maxwell, the absolute ruler of this twisted world, the one who'd torn apart the laws of reality and dragged them all into a living hell, sat before him as the perfect image of a ravaged prisoner. Threadbare clothing hung upon a wasted frame which suffered from terrible atrophy. His arms and legs were shackled to some kind of throne that grew from the darkness, looking to be both solid and incorporeal at the same time. His seat was placed in the center of several stone walls, with the only opening facing forwards and letting him look out upon a world of nothingness.

The scene was broken up by two objects. Off to Wilson's left was a gramophone, playing the same grating ditty that had been bothering his senses this whole time. To his right was a peculiar looking wooden construct in the shape of a circle. It had some sort of opening in its center whose purpose the scientist could only guess at.

Even as his eyes drank in the sight, Wilson found himself unable to fully comprehend it. He'd come all this way, fighting for his life and the lives of his friends, against the man who looked even worse off than they'd been.

"What happened to you…?"

It was the only question he could think to ask. The only one he wanted answered in that moment.

Another bitter chuckle sounded from the trapped man as he gave the closest thing he could to a shrug. The gesture strained against the cuffs holding him in place, causing the surface of the shadow throne to ripple and hum.

"I suppose I got tired of playing Their game." Maxwell said. "Or maybe They got tired of me. Heh. Took them long enough."

So many thoughts raced inside Wilson's mind, cramming against one another in their haste to be spoken aloud. So many unknowns. So many things he didn't understand. But before he could even start to make heads or tails of this situation, there was one thing he needed to do first.

With careful, calculated movements, Wilson made his way over to the gramophone and forcibly wrenched its needle away from the record, effectively silencing the blasted music. As soon as the noise ceased, Maxwell gave a visible shudder of relief.

"Thank you." He sighed, leaning back into his chair heavily. "I've been listening to that song for an eternity."

"What's going on?" Wilson demanded, turning back to the trapped man. "How did you…? What are you…? I…"

"Are you going to be finishing any of those thoughts, or should I just start talking?" Maxwell questioned, not looking the least bit concerned with his growing distress.

Taking a deep breath in order to steady himself, the scientist forced his roiling emotions to calm down. Anxiety and confusion were pushed away in favor of calm logic. He needed to stay on top of things. This was a test, just like all the others.

"Where are my friends?"

Maxwell simply shook his head.

"That's not a question you need to be asking right now." He stated. "They're still alive. Probably. But you've got something else you need to focus on."

Though his frustration burned with the force of a raging inferno, the scientist subdued the urge to scream. He took one final moment to collect himself before continuing.

"What happened?" He asked, his voice now level and even. Though he could still feel the turmoil of the sheer repulsiveness of this situation, none of it showed on his face.

"Finally." The gentleman remarked, shifting slightly in his chair. "It's a story I'm sure you've heard before so I won't bore you with the details. To put things simply, I flew too close to the sun and, like Icarus before me, my wings were burned away. They took a hold of me. They trapped me here and made me their plaything."

He cast a meaningful gaze to the scientist who was listening quietly.

"There was nothing here when I first arrived. Just dust. And the void. And Them. I built everything up with my own will. I created every world you passed through, and so many more besides them. I did all of that, and yet I remain here. Unable to so much as stand. Even a king is bound to the board."

Wilson's mouth had gone dry as his heart hammered in his chest. None of this made any sense. He'd believed he knew all this time who it was he'd been struggling against, but now, standing before the man who'd dragged him here, he was no longer sure. His world had been turned on its head and he had yet to make any sense of it.

"Who are 'They'?" He asked at last.

"They are They." Maxwell replied simply. "Beyond that, I haven't the slightest idea. I don't know who They are, what They want, or why They exist. They just sit and observe. Unless… of course… you happen to get too close…"

A shudder went through the puppet master's body at that as something almost resembling fear flickered across his features.

"Why do you think I stay so dapper? This suit isn't just for show."

"Why did you bring us here?" Wilson questioned. His voice had lost much of its strength, and his words came out far less steady than he'd have liked. "What was the point? Why did you do this to us?"

A vaguely pitying expression took shape on Maxwell's face. Not the kind of pity one shows an injured animal, but rather that which was given to a fool who couldn't see how dull they were being.

"To escape."

Those two words hit Wilson so hard they nearly forced him to his knees. They were the same words he'd been clinging to all this time. Hearing Maxwell say them now… Everything was wrong. The world was wrong. _This _was wrong, wrong, wrong!

"I did what I could to shove you in the right direction." Maxwell continued. "I think They even took a liking to you. Didn't make a difference in the end though, did it? Now we're both here. Stuck in this place. There's no getting out of here. I've tried everything."

Unconsciously, Wilson's hand tightened around the knife in his grip. He'd entirely forgotten he was holding it. A dark part of his mind told him that there _was_ one thing he could do to free his trapped enemy.

Seeing the small gesture, Maxwell actually chuckled again. A bitter, tired sound that dispelled the violent urge which had been growing in the scientist's heart.

"That won't work." He remarked idly, as if the threat to his life was of no concern. "They won't allow it. I'd know. I've tried many times."

Disturbed by his own train of thought, Wilson cast his eyes downwards. It wasn't like this was the first time he'd considered killing Maxwell. He'd thought about it many times in fact. But now… He simply couldn't. Not here. Not like this.

His gaze was soon drawn to the strange circular device on the opposite side of the chair. With a frown, he considered the seemingly pointless wooden object.

"What is that for?"

"Hmm?" Maxwell asked, sitting up just a bit from his slouched position.

"That. There. What is that for?" Wilson repeated.

He spared the construct only a brief examination before shrugging once again.

"Don't have the slightest idea." The imprisoned king answered. "That's been there since I first got here. I never found a use for it. I can only assume They made it for something, though can't say what."

That couldn't be right. Wilson had no clue just what kind of beings 'They' were, but to have something with no purpose simply didn't make sense. If it had been here longer than Maxwell, it had to serve some kind of function. Taking a step closer, he peered into the small hole in its center.

"You might as well make yourself comfortable." Maxwell said. "There's no going back now. You'll be stuck here just like me. But hey, at the very least you turned off that damned music. That's already a massive improvement."

The scientist wasn't paying attention. His focus was on the wooden device. He felt oddly drawn to it. Another step closer, and the pulling sensation grew exponentially. He knew, absolutely _knew_, it had to be something vital. He couldn't say how he knew, but it was an undeniable fact burned into his mind.

"Don't feel like talking anymore, eh?" The jailed manipulator remarked. "I don't blame you. Go ahead. Look around. Once you get bored of trying to break out, maybe you can come back and keep me company. It gets terribly boring here at times."

Wilson was beyond hearing at this point. With an almost reverent gesture, the scientist slowly lifted up the divining rod and positioned its handle over the hole in the device. Had he been more concerned with his surroundings, he might have felt a familiar urging pushing him forwards. He might have seen the invisible hands pulling on his strings. He might have known that the shadows were working on his mind once again.

He knew none of this. Only that the device in front of him was important, and that he had to figure out how.

The divining rod descended. Its handle slid into the hole like some long lost piece of a grand machine. Without so much as a fraction of an inch to spare, it locked into place perfectly. It was impossible, and yet it was happening. The object he'd thrown together in a fit of insanity was somehow connected to this structure.

A deafening blast of white noise exploded from the radio on top of it, causing both Maxwell and Wilson to jump in shock.

"What did you do!?" The trapped man demanded, all traces of calm gone from his face. Wilson didn't get a chance to answer.

The whole world shook as a massive tremor rumbled underfoot. With a sound like enormous slabs of stone slapping together, the two humans felt a sudden shift as though reality had been turned inside out and rapidly replaced.

Before Wilson's awe-struck eyes, the shadow throne fizzled and dissolved away to nothing. Maxwell collapsed to the floor in total disbelieving shock, his weathered limbs struggling to hold up his frame.

For an endless moment, nothing moved. Nothing existed. The two of them held in an unbroken silence as the sheer enormity of the utterly illogical occurrence sunk in.

"Free…"

Maxwell's voice broke the spell with a single, terribly soft syllable.

"I'm free…"

A disbelieving unsteady smile spread across his face as he gazed down at his unchained limbs.

"I'm free!"

He repeated those words as a breathless laugh echoed from deep inside his time-worn chest.

"I'M FRE- GAH!"

His declaration was suddenly cut off with a pained choke as he doubled over. A series of strangled cries tore themselves from the newly released king as Wilson looked on in helpless confusion. Maxwell convulsed heavily as his limbs buckled and a terrible scream poured from his mouth.

His mind finally catching up to his eyes, the scientist started forwards in an attempt to do something, but what came next stopped him dead in his tracks.

Before he could so much as reach out, Maxwell's skin began to fall away like crumbling parchment while his keening wail echoed into the surrounding darkness. As if blown by some unfelt wind, pieces of the puppet master broke apart and were swept aloft in a gruesome typhoon. Flesh, muscle, and organs were stripped away, his agonized cry never fading even as the parts of him required to make it were lost. For one terrifying second, all that was left of Maxwell was a screaming skeleton before even his bones were wiped away and all traces of the man were scattered into nothingness.

Wilson couldn't move. Couldn't even comprehend what he'd just witnessed. While his mind struggled with the sickening image he'd watched, he didn't notice as the shadows began to move.

Dozens of midnight-black limbs latched around his limbs as the scientist stood dumbstruck. His shouts of surprised protest fell on deaf ears as he was forcibly dragged to the very spot that Maxwell had been occupying only moments ago. Easily subduing his struggling form, the shadows wrapped around him in a smothering blanket. Wilson could feel unnatural restraints forming around his limbs, and the understanding of what was happening finally dawned on him.

He could feel them now. The creatures in the dark. The same ones that had been present in his blade. They were all around him. They were everywhere. They'd been playing him this entire time, evaluating his worth and finding him to be adequate for whatever twisted purpose They wanted him for.

Maxwell had just been another part of the game. The players, the unseen lords of this world, had been using all of them.

They…

They…

They…

As Wilson's mind slowly faded into the dark and the irritating music once again began to play, he could almost hear voices speaking from the endless darkness.

**The old king is dead!**

**Long live the king!**

* * *

><p>The first thing that greeted Willow as she opened her eyes was a bright, sunny sky. To her addled senses, it was one of the single most beautiful things she'd ever seen. No more endless night. No more crippling cold. Sun. Sky. Warmth. Light.<p>

Then she remembered. Remembered why they were here, and she practically flew to her feet. Euphoria blossomed in her heart as her shout of triumph tore through the open air. They'd done it! They'd escaped! They'd-

Wait.

It became immediately apparent that something wasn't right.

They'd beaten Maxwell's world hadn't they? That was supposed to be their ticket home. They were supposed to escape! Why were they back here!?

Before Willow's shocked eyes, the sight of their half-built camp lay sprawled in the same position it had been the last time they'd seen it. The pigs were gone, likely having departed when their human companions didn't return, but the log buildings were unmistakable.

They were back where they started.

They were back…

At the start…

They'd escaped…

But they…

Were back…

At…

She wanted to scream. To scream so loud and so much that the reality of this situation would rewrite itself to what it was meant to be. They couldn't be back here. They couldn't! This… It wasn't… They couldn't… No…

Shuffling at her side drew her attention to the others. Both Wendy and Wolfgang were recovering from their ordeal, blinking against the sunlight sky, only to have their expression go slack upon seeing what Willow had already been subject to. Nobody spoke. Nobody said a word as the three of them stood in mutual disbelief.

"Wilson… What happened…?" She asked, her voice pained. In all likelihood, he would be as surprised as she was, but some part of her clung to the vain hope that he might have some explanation that would make this all less torturous.

No reply came.

"Wilson?" Willow questioned, turning to look for him. It was then that she realized that he wasn't right beside them.

"Wilson!?' She cried, her frantic motion stirring the other two up so that they also began looking around for their missing friend. "Where is he!? Where did he go!?"

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about him if I were you."

No.

"He's a bit indisposed at the moment, but that isn't important. I'm sure you'll see him again someday."

Willow froze. That voice could only belong to one person. It was with trembling, slow motions that the fire starter shifted her gaze around to find its source. When she did, her whole world came crashing down.

"Now tell me, what do you people do for fun around here?" Maxwell asked with a grin. "I've just stretched my legs for the first time in ages, and I feel like celebrating."

* * *

><p><strong>What will happen to the survivors now? Will Wilson be trapped forever? Who are 'They'? <strong>

**All these questions and more will be addressed in the sequel to Long Live the King. I don't have a current release date planned, so I can only say that it will be coming sometime after they reveal the rest of the Don't Starve story (considering it is still technically in a beta). If anything I've written so far ends up contradicting the lore, I'll just have to get creative. **

**Here are some things you can look forwards to seeing:**

**New characters**

**New enemies**

**Giants**

**The underground**

**Maxwell being Maxwell**

**And likely much more**

**I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has been along for the ride. You guys/gals are great. It's been fun, and will hopefully continue to be fun when the next one comes out. **

**Until then, this is Disciple of Ember signing off.**


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